| The Patriot (Special Edition) | 
 enlarge | Director: Roland Emmerich
Actors: Mel Gibson, Heath Ledger, Joely Richardson, Jason Isaacs, Chris Cooper
Studio: Sony Pictures
Category: DVD
List Price: $14.94
Buy Used: $1.49
You Save: $13.45 (90%)
New (66) Collectible (3) from $5.39
Avg. Customer Rating:  819 reviews
Sales Rank: 874
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Special Edition, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Running Time: 165 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
DVD Layers: 2
DVD Sides: 1
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 0.5
MPN: 043396057319
ISBN: 0767858468
UPC: 043396057319
EAN: 9780767858465
ASIN: B00004XPPG
Theatrical Release Date: June 28, 2000
Release Date: October 24, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
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 cliches 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
Product Description
When the British arrive at his South Carolina home, French and Indian War hero Benjamin Martin takes up arms again to protect his family after swearing off violence and fighting.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 6-MAR-2007
Media Type: DVD
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| Customer Reviews: Read 814 more reviews...
 Formula plot, but well played and acted. June 15, 2008
The plot of PATRIOT follows the formula of the reluctant warrior who is forced to fight by circumstances--see SHENANDOAH and others. True to the formula, once he enters the war, he is unstoppable. Even though it is strictly a formula plot, Mel Gibson and an excellent cast pull it off. Heath Ledger is excellent as the son who must fight despite his father's warning, and Jason Isaacs is wonderfully mean as the brutal British officer.
 What happened to historical accuracy? June 5, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
Visually impressive but Gibson reprises his sensitive hero shtick. In the movie the British kill injured American troops, Gibson offers to free the slaves if they will fight for
the Revolution and the British burn civilians in a church. HOWEVER, in reality the only documented massacre of injured soldiers was BY the rebels OF loyalist troops, the British offered to free the slaves, a move received with outrage among the slave owning rebels (including Washington and Jefferson)and the burning of civilians in a church by British troops never took place (although the Germans did do this in France during the Second World War).
Patriotic Americans May 31, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
While the movie of course was a hollywood creation it was never the less pretty historically factual. It depicted accurately the horrors and hardships the Carolinians suffered in order to achieve America's independence. My great grandfather was one of them.
VERY GOOD, BUT NOT GREAT... May 1, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
FOR STARTERS, LET ME SAY THAT I THINK PRETTY HIGHLY OF THIS FILM. HOWEVER, THIS IS NOT A FILM THAT WARRANTS THE EXTRA MONEY TO GO BLU-RAY.
I OWN THIS TITLE ON DVD AND BLU, AND FRANKLY, I WOULD LIKE TO HAVE MY BLU MONEY BACK. THERE IS NOT A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN EITHER PICTURE OR SOUND QUALITY. WITH A FAIRLY LARGE COLLECTION OF STANDARD AND HIGH DEF FILMS, THIS IS JUST ONE THAT IS NOT WORTH THE EXTRA MONEY IN MY OPINION.
I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THOUGH, THIS FILM IS WELL WORTH THE COST OF A STANDARD DVD AND WOULD BE AN EXCELLENT ADDITION TO ANY COLLECTION.
 family values film April 23, 2008
5 out of 16 found this review helpful
I like how he doesn't want to fight. He just wants to live in peace and raise his family and tend his crops.
Just like American patriots to this day he did not want war. No, we are a God fearing, peaceful people. But, if our freedom is under attack and our country needs us then we will accept the call to duty. Freedom is not free.
This is the true American spirit and even though Australian, Mel Gibson understands it very well. Perhaps it is his faith that ties him together with us. As in a previous film, "Braveheart", Gibson is a good man forced into action by circumstances beyond his control to fight the English. And when he does, put on your rain coat because there will be blood, and lots of it, pouring and spraying everywhere. If there ain't a lot of blood shed it's not a Mel Gibson movie. Farmer Mel does the Lord's work, quickly turning into an axe weilding colonial Rambo killing machine. I suppose one shouldn't be surprised at his dispatching of a fairly large number of Red Coats with such efficiency. The peoples' blood lust shall be satisfied with just killings of the wicked. And the English surely are wicked and cruel, at one point burning to the ground a little white chapel filled with innocents. No wonder our brave countrymen fought the Revolution. And watching this vivid and moving history you know God was on our side.
Actually, the movie is pretty fascist in it's conception. Leni Riefenstahl would love it. It does make you wonder when something like this is popular what percentage of the masses, particularly the peasantry, is inherently fascist in it's politics. Or if not inherently, at least very prone. Scary.
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