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The Patriot [Blu-ray]

1 disc
Region 1 USA/CA (info)

In this Revolutionary War epic from director Roland Emmerich (INDEPENDENCE DAY, GODZILLA) and writer Robert Rodat (SAVING PRIVATE RYAN), history unfolds as one man struggles to bury his demons and keep his family whole. Mel Gibson plays reluctant hero Benjamin Martin, a man who fought with both heroism and brutality in the French and Indian War, but who is now seeking to peacefully tend his own fields and ignore the later and greater conflict. Despite Martin's scrupulous parenting, however, his idealistic son Gabriel (Heath Ledger) leaves home to join the colonial army. Soon the war is literally on Martin's doorstep; a cruel British officer named Tavington (Jason Isaacs) kills one of his children and unwittingly galvanizes Martin, Gabriel, and a ragtag militia of locals into a fierce guerilla unit bent on revenge and liberty. THE PATRIOT is concerned with honor among soldiers, finding and losing love in the midst of chaos, and also with a tactical shift from open-field combat to the hide-and-fight strategies that would come into their own in modern warfare. The historical details are imaginative, to say the least, but the spectacle is what's really effective in bringing the fight for independence to life.
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- Rating - Strong war violence.
Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): SPE16718
Credits

Mel Gibson, Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Tcheky Karyo, Tom Wilkinson, Chris Cooper, Rene Auberjonois, Jason Isaacs, Lisa Brenner
Critic Reviews

"...THE PATRIOT has 'hit' written all over it..."
Rolling Stone
"...Gibson shows an on-screen comfort and expansiveness he has not revealed before..."
New York Times
"...Viscerally historical....THE PATRIOT makes a big bang..." -- 3 out of 4 stars
USA Today
"...Spectacular battle scenes..."
Sight and Sound
"...Who can deny a movie that features enough bloody fights, burning houses, and grandiloquent speeches to fill three sequels to GONE WITH THE WIND?..." -- 3 out of 5 stars - A Satisfying Rental
Premiere
"...THE PATRIOT deserves a salute as the first Hollywood epic about the American Revolution to successfully blend ferocity and feeling..."
Rolling Stone
"...THE PATRIOT has a good sense of spectacle and is quite successful at re-creating a period that has not been brought to the screen with much success recently..."
Los Angeles Times
"...It is rousing and entertaining, and you get your money's worth....[Gibson gives] a powerful and effective performance..."
Chicago Sun-Times
"...With some beautiful cinematography and a few strong doses of musket-blasting action..."
Total Film