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Subject: 
Re: movie: The Patriot
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.off-topic.fun
Date: 
Mon, 3 Jul 2000 01:47:55 GMT
Viewed: 
106 times
  
First off, excellent film. If you haven't seen I recomend you do so.

In lugnet.off-topic.fun, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
Hi all,

I saw The Patriot last night with Mel Gibson.  (Actually, I wasn't with him, • he
was just on screen.)

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I liked it well enough but it seemed kind of wishy-washy in several ways.

Most importantly, it was a historical fiction, right?  Well...  It is pretty
one-sided in the depiction of the nice/good/brave revolutionaries and the
evil/silly loyalists.  The relationship between Marin and Tavington seems like
something that just had to be put in place for the sake of being a Hollywood
film.  I would rather it have been less personal.  Or at least less personal • on
one of the sides.

Martin's transformation from peacenik to bloodthirsty crazed warrior seems • like
a bit of a stretch.  If they were going to portray him as such, why go to such
great effort to show him as peaceful in the beginning?

This was explained in the film.  He was a soldier in the French and Indian War
and went "Bloodthirsty."  He didn't want to go back to that in the begining but
realized it was neccesary later.

Good things:

The choreography of the ambush that Martin and sons stage near the beginning
was incredible.  One of the best fights in film history.  It took the good
parts of Hong Kong action film fighting and left out the bad parts and thrust
it into the late 1700s.

Yes that was awesome.

Scenery was grand.  Costumes, buildings, big battles, etc. were all very well
done and very pretty to look at.

Gibson's performance was good.  I think the role was a little shallow, and he
added depth.  Who would have thought where he'd go after Mad Max?

Protagonists die.  I am agravated by Hollywood miracles saving the • protagonists
of most films from grave situations.  In The Patriot, several empathic
protagonists die, and you often feel it.  The church scene did not, however, • do
it for me.

I belive that historically that is what happened in that town.  I remember
seeing a special on Public Broadcast that had many primary sources read aloud.
I seem to recall a letter about the british burnt a church.  I could be
mistaken but I don't think I am.

The running length was two hours and 45 minutes.  I like long films.  It was
used to good effect.  Another movie, Heat, was about 170 minutes and was way
too long.  In this film, there was important development, characterization,
drama, and plot pretty steadily throughout.

The supporting cast was good.  Jason Isaacs was great as the evil Tavington,
even if the character was overdone.  I liked seeing Adam Baldwin, Stephen
Tobolowsky, Chris Cook, etc.

Anyone else see it?

Yes, Me.

-Lord Insanity

If you like Ebert reviews, you can read his at
http://www.suntimes.com/output/ebert1/patr28.html

Chris



Message has 1 Reply:
  Re: movie: The Patriot
 
(...) such (...) but (...) I understood how the movie "explained" it. I just didn't think it felt right. It was pretty melodramatic. (...) I believe it was a repeated strategy used on multiple continents and I think the first that I know of it being (...) (24 years ago, 3-Jul-00, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)

Message is in Reply To:
  movie: The Patriot
 
Hi all, I saw The Patriot last night with Mel Gibson. (Actually, I wasn't with him, he was just on screen.) <go away if you don't want to read anything about it> <go away if you don't want to read anything about it> <go away if you don't want to (...) (24 years ago, 2-Jul-00, to lugnet.off-topic.fun)

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