DVD : The Patriot (Special Edition)
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 9780767858465
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0767858468
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: October 24, 2000
Running Time: 165 minutes
Sales Rank: 1729
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: June 28, 2000
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Editorial Review:
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
Amazon.com:
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 clichés 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
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." -Samuel Johnson
"Democracy is messy." -Donald Rumsfeld
This movie is childish. I don't mean it's a children's movie. I mean it is conceived at the mental and emotional level of a twelve-year-old boy and meant to be enjoyed by adults. That doesn't bother me. Almost all blockbusters are.
What bothers me is how Emmerich, Gibson & co. presume to use one of the most important events in the history of mankind to enact the same cliche-filled melodramatic revenge fantasy Braveheart was but with different outfits. The soaring music, the jingoistic dialogue, the convenient joining of causes and the blankfaced dismissal of actual historical details are all too typical. The makers of this movie care about The Revolutionary War as much as the makers of Braveheart cared about Scotland's fight for independence in the middle ages. That is to say: they don't care a whit. They're selling movie tickets. The establishment of the world's first modern democracy & my eventual home is subsumed to Mad Max running around in the woods getting his war on. It's enough to make me long for the Schwartzenegger/Stallone revenge shoot 'em ups of the '80s. At least those were honest in their lack of pretentions.
Of course "the enemy" is a thoroughly generic evil empire straight out of Star Wars. Every British soldier is either a sociopath, wuss, incompetent or a blank-faced stormtrooper. Yeah, that's ... Read More
Rating:  -
...Wherein a German filmmaker by the name of Roland Emerich makes a movie where evil British Redcoats commit a vile atrocity against American freedom fighters... an atrocity that in reality was perpetrated by German troops against French villagers in WWII. Nice one Roland. What are you going to do next - make a film where the British gas 12 million people in Auschwitz before the plucky German freedom fighters come to the rescue?
Rating:  -
Amidst the steady stream of disgusting, vulgar, and /or western civilization-bashing crap that flows like a sewer from our Left Coast, we get a little reminder every once in awhile that the United States is not completely the Great Satan. We do have a redeeming quality or two. Thank God for a generation that didn't bow the knee to British oppression and tyranny. (Anyone who thinks the British were righteous during that period probably also thinks that Islam is a religion of peace.) Today we are the world's oldest democracy because that generation "stayed the course" (oh, the mindless clichés!), fought barefoot in the snow, and defeated the most powerful empire in the world (strangely reminiscent of the Vietcong).
When I'm feeling low about the porn-saturated, Bush-decimated, corporate-dominated, widely-hated USA, I'll watch this movie and imagine a time that my people not only believed in virtue, but actually behaved as though there was something more important than self-interest, self-esteem, self-awareness, and getting off.
If I seem a little overly passionate, it's because I've mistakenly spent time reading the one-star reviews. When I calm down my review of the movie will probably just be "It was pretty good." In the meantime, I'm compelled to respond in my review to Bob's "family values" review:
So you do or don't like how he doesn't want to fight? Your sarcasm makes it difficult to determine if you approve of anything about the movie. You really ... Read More
Rating: -
Excellent movie and acting, Story superb if you can overlook hollywood political correctness recreating history
Rating: -
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.
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starring: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs, Chris Cooper
directed by: Roland Emmerich
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 9780767858465
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Widescreen, NTSC
ISBN: 0767858468
Label: Sony Pictures
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
Number Of Items: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: October 24, 2000
Running Time: 165 minutes
Sales Rank: 1729
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: June 28, 2000
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