If you're ready for two hours and 40 minutes of Mel Gibson and the British Redcoat scoundrels, you're in the right place, the American Revolution as seen through the eyes of The Patriot Benjamin Martin (Mel).
A hero of the French and Indian conflict, Martin has returned to his South Carolina farm to raise his family in peace. A widower with seven children, he has renounced fighting forever. However, when he speaks out against taxation without representation, trouble starts, and things soon warm up a bit. Martin still steadfastly refuses to fight, but his 18-year-old son Gabriel (Heath Ledger) signs on with the Continental Army.
Two years later, Gabriel returns home wounded, along with other soldiers, rebels and Redcoats alike. Martin tends to them all, incurring the wrath of British Col. William Tavington (Jason Isaacs), who seizes Gabriel and orders Martin's house burned to the ground and all the colonial troops killed.
Enough is enough, and Martin again becomes a warrior. In the ensuing saga, he finally faces Tavington in one of the pivotal battles of the war where the British Gen. Cornwallis is forced to retreat. According to one reviewer, this "world-changing event serves as mere window dressing" as Cornwallis' retreat takes second stage to Martin's revenge against Tavington. But that's show biz, if not history.
The movie is directed by Roland Emmerich and is rated R for strong war violence.
It is showing at Market Square East.
