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Product Description

When widower and war hero benjamin martin sees his family viciously attacked by red coats he can no longer avoid fighting in the revolutionary war. Toegether with his son he forms a militia to take up arms against the british and soon is embroiled in the redemption of revenge and the passion of love. Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 03/27/2007 Starring: Mel Gibson Joely Richardson Run time: 165 minutes Rating: R Director: Roland Emmerich

Aimed directly at a mainstream audience, The Patriot qualifies as respectable entertainment, but anyone expecting a definitive drama about the American Revolution should look elsewhere. Rising above the blatant crowd pleasing of Stargate, Independence Day, and Godzilla, director Roland Emmerich crafts a marvelous re-creation of South Carolina in the late 1770s (aided immeasurably by cinematographer Caleb Deschanel), and Robert Rodat's screenplay offers the same balance of epic scale and emotional urgency that elevated his earlier script for Saving Private Ryan. Unfortunately, Emmerich embraces clich¨¦s and hackneyed melodrama that a more gifted director would have avoided. Instead of attempting a truly great film about the most pivotal years of American history, Emmerich settles for a standard revenge plot with the Revolutionary War as an incidental backdrop.

On those terms, the film is engrossing and sufficiently intelligent, especially when militia leader Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson) cagily negotiates with British General Cornwallis (Tom Wilkinson) in one of the most rewarding scenes. For the most part, the story concerns Martin's anguished quest for revenge against ruthless redcoat Colonel Tavington (played with snide relish by Jason Isaacs), and the rise to manhood of Martin's eldest son, Gabriel (Heath Ledger), whose battlefield honor exceeds even that of his brutally volatile father. At its best, The Patriot conveys the horror of war among innocent civilians, and the epic battle scenes, while by no means masterful, are graphically intense and impressive. And although Ledger's love interest (Lisa Brenner) is too bland to register much emotion, the focus on family (which frequently relegates the war to background history) provides a suitable vehicle for Gibson, who matches his achievement in Braveheart with an effectively brooding performance. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

• Patriot
  This is an epic film. One of Gibson's all time classics. Great supporting role by Heath Ledger...more info
• Excellent. Great movie! Great Quality!
  The extended version is considerably better than the orginal and the video and sound make this a worth while Blu-Ray buy....more info
• Never get tired of this one!
  Always a late bloomer, I discover things after they've been out for a while - that's just my way. I finally rented this flick and watched it the whole way through...and it's great! I really loved it! There is alittle bit of everything in it - for men and women. There's war, romance - and it keeps you interested the whole time. Trying to watch all of Heath Ledger's work since his death - I'm so glad I saw this. This was definately Mel Gibson's movie (and he was great too) but Heath held his own as Mel's oldest son. He's beautiful to look at - but he showed such promise...you just knew he was destined for greatness. I now have this movie in my dvd collection - and would recommend it to anyone. You will be entertained. ...more info
• Patriot is a great movie!!!
  The Patriot is another example of Mel Gibson's ability to draw you into his character and make you feel a part of a great story. ...more info
• Great Movie
  This is one of my all-time favorites. It arrived in new condition as promised....more info
• Mel and co engage again with the British with blood & guts
  This film coming a few years later after "Braveheart" was one of the first films in which I saw the late Heath Ledger--and he was impressive to say the least. Mel Gibson plays a farmer who is an ex-guerilla fighter who is reluctant to take up arms against the British until a tragedy occurs in his family that forces him to take a stand. Critics of this film have liken this to a Mad Max film but his re-transformation back into the warrior mode is plausible. Of course, there are some dramatic licenses taken here since Gibson's character is a composite of many of the types of American heroes like Francis Marion aka "The Swamp Fox" and also depicted in Disney film years ago by I believe, Leslie Nielsen before he descended or risen into his famous comedy mode (The Naked Gun). The Blu-ray transfer of this extended version is excellent and a special mention should be made of the excellent acting of Jason Issacs as the villainous British officier who forces Gibson's hand in a pivotal moment. Also Tom Wilkinson as Cornwallis, Chris Cooper as a Federalist and Tcheky Karyo as a French compatriot are excellent too. Recommended for war buffs and action fans alike!!...more info
• quality
  the picture and sound is woooooooooow.
  In the battlesceen you think your in the battle.
  An disc to let see the true potentieel off blue ray...more info
• Aim small, miss small
  THE WAR: Revolutionary War, desperately important in its cause for freedom and independence, but brutally ignorant in its fighting techniques. Whoever thought that lining up in a big mass in front of a group of musket-wielding automatons was a good idea, is a military leader without a hint of imagination. Through the ardent desire to form a country free from oppression, a country is born, and its first heroes
  
  STORY: Col. Benjamin Martin (Gibson) wishes to stay out of war and seek peace. With a recently deceased wife he counters the growing surge to fight the Brits with this brilliantly prophetic line about having one's own government, "Why should I trade one tyrant three thousand miles away for three thousand tyrants one mile away? An elected legislature can trample a man's rights as easily as a king can."
  
  PATRIOTISM: When his son Gabrielle (Ledger) enlists without his permission, Benjamin is heart-fallen and worried. With just about everyone, however, enlisting is looked upon as brave, just, and patriotic. As the wars rage in his own crops and on his land, his young family is unwillingly embroiled in a country's birth. When his despotic middle child foolishly rushes into a gun-fight without a gun, Benjamin decides it's about time to unleash the fury within (the defense of one's country is closely tied to the security of a man's family).
  
  FAVORITE BATTLE(S): In the most memorable scene of the movie, Benjamin takes his two youngest sons - one may have still been carrying a pacifier - into the woods to hunt some Brits who had previously imprisoned Gabrielle and displayed their poor dental hygiene. After setting up a rudimentary ambush and supplying the kids with a few words of wisdom, Benjamin almost single-handedly destroys a platoon of red-coats with a couple of muskets, a knife, an Indian axe, and the rage of a father who just saw his son get the business end of a musket. Benjamin Martin really was some sort of combination of a ghost, a ninja, and great Indian MME warrior in this one.
  
  FAVORITE LINE: Aim small, miss small.
  
  THE MESSAGE: Taxes suck, without representation they suck worse, and there was no way England could control the willpower of America's people....more info
• Blu Ray Perfect for "The Patriot"
  The Patriot is another very good movie by Gibson ... entertaining, good plot, action, character development, and believable acting.
  Blu Ray adds greatly to this movie with superior definition, color, depth, and much better audio and soundtrack. The extended cuts in this movie are value-added.
  Certain movies are good candidates for Blu Ray; this is one of them....more info
• "Sometimes the shepherd has to tend to his flock...and sometimes fight off the wolves!"
  Actors Mel Gibson (Lethal Weapon saga), Heath Ledger (10 Things I Hate About You), Tcheky Karyo (The Core), and Rene Auberjonois (Odo from Star Trek: DS9) lead an all-star cast loosely based on the American Revolution in the states of Virginia and the Carolinas. When I say loosely, I mean it's kind of one sided. If you've read textbooks in the United States you will notice how Britain is cast as an evil parent (as the mother country of the 13 colonies). General Cornwallis is referred to as a poor general. But that's the textbooks and this review is more about the movie itself.
  
  Mel Gibson plays Benjamin Martin, a former leader in the colonial militia who fought in the French Indian War. The captain of the militia tries but unsuccessfully to recruit Martin in the Continental Army. Tragedy strikes when a brutal British Colonel kills one of Martin's young sons. Martin then joins the Continental Army to lead and take revenge for what Colonel Tavington (Jason Isaacs) had taken from him. Benjamin Martin in his battle expierence begins to take charge of a small militia and teaches them battle tactics that the British are unfamiliar with. While slavery isn't entirely viewed in the movie, it was shown as the continental army General named George Washington allowed slaves to fight on the Continental Army for aperiod of time and then were free. Donal Logue plays a member of the miltia who disagrees with this notion but as human as he is, he changes his mind and embraces a slave who's time was up yet still stayed. Anyway, the British outnumber the colonial militia who are nothing more than farmers. As Martin's militia begin to be a thorn in Cornwallis's side, the colonists begin to believe in their cause. In the history books, the French aid the colonies with soldiers, able bodied generals, supplies, and ships.
  Tcheky Karyo plays a French general who fights along side Gibson's Martin as well as training his men. Both Gibson and Karyo provide some good comedy relief within a war which is never fun.
  
  All in all this is a great war movie that makes for an interesting view during the time period when some colonists insisted on breaking from the mother country: Britain. The starts as the American Revolution had already started. It's a great movie set in a time period that I love the most; The colonies and the Revolutionary War. For most people if you want historical accuracy, seek out more than one source and get multiple views from both sides. I'm not going into a highly detailed analysis and knitpick every scene and use this as a soapbox. I see it for what it is: A movie! This movie has great battles, great acting, some comedy, a lot of limb loss and cannonballs "flying" everywhere, making this a good addition to anyones DVD collection....more info
• The script needed a rewrite
  Because it had too many sub stories that does not propel the overall plot. And the endless slooooooow mooooooootioooooon all over the place, ack! Great Bloody action throughout to give it four stars. The only thing I don't like is that they don't have an option for me to be taken to those blood soaked splattered moments to relish. Come on! You telling me you came here to learn some American History?! On a Hollyweird production?! By a tree hugging hippie director from the euro side of delusion?!!! This is like trying to get Paul Verheoven(sp) to do a period pic. All he'd do is insert nazi asides to show you how corrupt those American/Euro/Romans where in the way back past....more info
• The truth is usually more entertaining than fiction!
  Isaacs and Gibson both excell in this action filled movie.Unfortunately the theme of the movie was once again based on the 200 year old myth regarding the anti-hero Tavington(Banastre Tarleton)played by Jason Isaacs
  Again branded as the villain Tarleton was a brilliant tactition who played the American militia at their own game and won.
  Tarletons efficiency made him feared by the Americans but his tactics never reduced him to be the mind-less butcher that he is always portrayed as.
  These tactics were reserved for the likes of Ben Cleveland and Light Horse Lee who were infinately more cruel but were almost always noticably absent when Tarleton was around.
  In real life Tarleton died peacefully in his own bed in his 80th year and not on the end of Mel Gibsons bayonet.Pardon my soapbox but I feel that another opportunity has been missed to tell history as it was and now this movie is destined to live in the part of the bookshelf housing Grimms fairy tales etc...more info
• Could it be time for another revolution
  Excellent movie and acting, Story superb if you can overlook hollywood political correctness recreating history...more info
• Mel Gibson's Best
  The Patriot has humor, romance and action to the hilt. I watch this many times and it is always good....more info
• Amazing movie, so so blu ray
  Being a huge fan of the revolutionary era, I love this movie (and not for its historical (in)accuracies). Had to upgrade to Blu Ray of course, but was unimpressed. Its mildly better than the SD version, so I'd recommend buying only if you can get a good deal or if you don't already own the SD version. ...more info
• I Enjoyed It
  I enjoyed this movie. I like Mel Gibson's action movies. This falls into that category. It is not a comedy. I like the new young actor Heath Ledger who played his son. I think we will see more of him in the future. We don't get many movies about the Revolutionary war and I enjoyed this one. Some of the scenes reminded me of THE LAST OF THE MOHEGANS especially the ambush scene in the forest. The final battle scene was very good. They don't make movies like this anymore. We all liked it. ...more info
• Worth a watch
  I love the movie and have the DVD, but just wasn't motivated enough to watch it again. This is a chance when you change your stock to blue ray, you do want to watch them again and appreciate them more. After all the movie looks more stunning than ever. ...more info