Even before its world premiere, The Patriot has become the center of not one, but two, swirling controversies. Because the movie depicts children shooting rifles, it has come under fire by certain anti-gun groups. And, because the main character is a fictionalized representation of Francis Marion, who has been confirmed as a racist by historians, questions have been raised about the film's choice of a protagonist. Perhaps these two issues will add a little spark to the general release of The Patriot, because, based on content alone, there's not much to get excited about. This is a derivative and relentlessly mediocre motion picture.

To date, director Roland Emmerich and producer Dean Devlin have been involved in a trio of profitable but creatively bankrupt enterprises. All three - Stargate, Independence Day, and Godzilla - are self-styled science fiction epics that have struggled to find a minute's worth of compelling or original material. Characters have been built from stereotypes and cliches and nearly every plot development has been lifted from another film. The Patriot represents a distinct change-of-pace for Emmerich and Devlin, moving them away from space ships and giant monsters and into the realm of historical re-construction. Unfortunately, this shift of genre hasn't heralded much in the way of a storytelling improvement. The Patriot suffers from a series of potentially fatal flaws: poor character development, a lack of tension, stifling strains of political correctness, a rambling screenplay, manipulative and emotionally untrue "big moments", and wretched pacing.

During roughly the last decade, there have been a number of powerful and memorable Civil War-era films (including Glory, Dances With Wolves, and Gettysburg), but correspondingly few representations of the time of the Revolutionary War. The last major motion picture set in North America during the 1700s was 1992's The Last of the Mohicans, a rousing adventure that transpired during the so-called French-and-Indian War. Those who hoped The Patriot might finally offer a grand epic during the American Revolution are likely to be disappointed. Compared to any recent battle-drenched epic, whether it's Braveheart, Glory, Gettysburg, Mohicans, or Saving Private Ryan, The Patriot does not hold up well.

With Mel Gibson's name on the marquee, comparisons with Braveheart are unavoidable. In fact, the role of Benjamin Martin appears to be an attempt to find another William Wallace-like part for the high profile actor. Unfortunately, drenching Gibson in blood and sending him on a mission of revenge against an overwhelming force doesn't guarantee a repeat success. Braveheart was the complete package - an engrossing story filled with well realized characters and punctuated with tense, rousing battle sequences. In The Patriot, Gibson's protagonist is half developed, the storyline is poorly focused, and the battles, while produced with technical proficiency, are largely impersonal and uninteresting. If Gibson was aiming for the same bullseye he struck with Braveheart, he missed wide of the mark.

The Patriot opens in 1776 South Carolina. In the north, lightning from the storm clouds of war against the Crown have already touched off brush fires. The Colonies are calling are searching for volunteers to join the regular army. Benjamin Martin, the legendary "Hero of Fort Wilderness" and now a farmer, makes his reservations about the Revolution known in public: "This war will be fought not on some distant frontier but among us, among our homes." His patriotic son, Gabriel (Heath Ledger), dishonored by his father's reticence, joins with an enthusiasm for the cause that Martin does not feel. Soon, however, an engagement occurs in a field on the Martin farm. When, in the wake of the conflict, Martin is found to have aided wounded rebels (as well as injured British soldiers), his house is burned to the ground. Gabriel is arrested and taken to be hanged. Martin's second eldest son, Thomas (Gregory Smith), is slain by the cold-hearted Col. William Tavington (Jason Isaacs). This act of savagery brings Martin into the war with a fury, accepting a command from Col. Harry Burwell (Chris Cooper) to lead the local militia in guerilla-type attacks against British targets. Soon known as "the ghost", he becomes a growing threat to the Redcoats - so much so, in fact, that no less a personage than General Cornwallis (Tom Wilkinson) orders that any and all means be used to capture Martin.

Most war films, no matter what their setting, build gradually to a momentous climax. This doesn't happen during The Patriot. There is a big skirmish at the end, but it doesn't seem like the culmination of all that has preceded it. Great battle scenes in movies stir the blood; this one left me cold. Overall, the pacing is uneven and the tone monotonous. With only a couple of exceptions, Emmerich fails to generate tension. Consequently, the film threatens to bore. When an historical epic places the audience under its spell, the running length becomes irrelevant. But, as in The Patriot, when we remain outsiders looking in while fidgeting in our seats, 162 minutes seems like an inordinately long time.

The screenplay, written by Saving Private Ryan scribe Robert Rodat, is The Patriot's central disadvantage. Structured and developed with painful predictability (only one event in the entire picture surprised me), the story diminishes the scope of the Revolutionary War into one man's struggle for revenge. Gibson might just as well be in a Colonial version of Payback. To make sure we don't lose sight of the fact that all the carnage and death isn't only about killing Col. Tavington, we're occasionally subjected to speeches about the virtues of freedom and shots of the American flag filmed with a degree of reverence equaled in recent film only by Kevin Costner's The Postman. There's virtually no strategy or sense of place - battles just happen, and their importance (or lack thereof) is rarely placed into an overall context. It's a rare thing for Washington to be mentioned. And the concluding struggle of the war, at Yorktown, is presented in a perfunctory, dissatisfying epilogue.

One truly unfortunate aspect of Rodat's script is the way political correctness taints everything, at times running rampant over established historical attitudes. There's a token black slave, whose innate nobility causes him to stay and fight after he has earned his freedom. All women are willful and outspoken. No American ever commits an atrocity; those are the purview of the demonized British, who are shown to perpetrate just about every kind of heinous act imaginable (torturing and killing innocents, shooting wounded men in cold blood, burning women and children alive). The Patriot has been so tarnished by the brush of '90s attitudes that at times it is difficult to remember that the time period is the 1700s. And the overly-modern dialogue doesn't help. At one point, the response to the question "May I sit with you?" is "It's a free country - or at least it will be."

All the really important movie clich閟 come into play. Human beings can have their heads separated from their necks by cannon balls, be cut to shreds by gunfire, and graphically lose arms and legs, but the dogs must not be injured. There are two of them in The Patriot (Great Danes named Jupiter and Mars), and they're never in any danger. Then there's the principle that the villain must die more than once. Sure enough, just when you think the bad guy's dead, he returns to wreak even more havoc. 英文影评 individual, Col. Tavington, is a particularly nasty specimen. And Jason Isaacs plays him with such cartoonish zeal that there are times when he's more ridiculous than menacing. The screenplay desperately wants us to despise him, but our hatred doesn't make the lackluster ending more satisfying. The filmmakers should have watched Rob Roy for lessons in this area.

Even though the movie may have been tailored to suit Gibson, the actor never seems to embrace the lead part. His portrayal is strangely subdued. There is a reason for this - Martin is struggling to cope with a dark secret in his past - but such complexity of character doesn't fit well into the simplified, black-and-white script. By bringing more to Martin than the movie is capable of handling, Gibson appears to give a halfhearted performance. And, since he's a recognized sex symbol, he has to have a love interest. This time, the thankless job goes to Joely Richardson, who plays the single sister of Benjamin's late wife. Meanwhile, Aussie Heath Ledger (the male lead in 10 Things I Hate About You) acquits himself effectively as the idealistic Gabriel. He has "hunk" written all over him. The strong supporting cast features Chris Cooper, Tom Wilkinson, Rene Auberjonois, and Tcheky Karyo - none of whom are given challenging material.

The Patriot is a disappointment. Caleb Deschanel's gorgeous cinematography and John Williams' score give the film an impressive sheen, but there's little substance for the gloss to adhere to. Likewise, the battle sequences look good, but the human element has been leeched from the equation. It's like playing toy soldiers with live ammunition. Even the best conflict in The Patriot (an ambush in which Martin rescues Gabriel) doesn't have the power of Braveheart or The Last of the Mohicans to get the nape hairs to stand on end. As for Emmerich and Devlin, it's time for them to try something else. Their first foray into the history books isn't more proficient than their attempt to re-make Japan's biggest export.