The Patriot

This movie is by far one of the best revolutionary war movies that I have ever seen. The emotional pull is huge. When watching this movie, it's hard not to want to go shoot some redcoats yourself! This is the story of Benjamin Martin, a man who does not want to go to war, but ends up leading one of the most successful bands of militia men in the rebel army when his son is killed by a brutal Redcoat leader. I've seen this movie twice now. The first time I saw it was many years ago, and it didn't touch me like it did this time. The uniforms, explosions, blood, weapons, acting, and scenery all look like it's the real thing in this movie. The storyline is a little bit predictable, but still very good. There were many times when I wanted to start cheering along with the men in the movie. It's one of those that makes you feel very patriotic, especially one scene where Mel Gibson (Ben Martin) rides up on his horse, bearing the flag that his dead son had rescued and kept in his saddle bag. All the American soldiers start cheering as the flag passes, hats in the air, and morale high. It was really a great scene. The movie had plenty of parts that made me very angry as well, like when the British officer crowded a whole village into the church, locked them in, and burned the church down to the ground, killing all inside. I could relate to the feelings of the militia soldiers in that part. One other scene of questionable appropriateness was when Ben goes on a rampage, killing about 25 british soldiers mostly with his tomahawk after they had killed one of his sons for no good reason. That was when he decided that this was now his war, and he took action. I could relate to his actions, I would probably have done beyond that if somebody murdered someone I care about, but as far as being in this movie, it did get a little gory for being entertainment. I highly recommend this movie for 12+ children/adults. One other interesting thing about this movie is that I personally know one of the actors in it. He's just an extra basically, but it's fun to know he's in the movie on screen :)
Because of the violence this film was not family friendly, but It was really really good, so I give it an 8.