Skip to content
Dom Robinson reviews
Columbia TriStar
- Cert:
- Cat.no: CDR 30441
- Running time: 158 minutes
- Year: 2000
- Pressing: 2000
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 28 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Pro Logic
- Languages: English, Hungarian
- Subtitles: 17 languages available
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Trailer, Featurettes: “The True Patriots”, “Visual Effect” and”The Art of War”, Conceptual Art to Film Comparison, Gallery of CastPortraits, Producers & Director’s Commentary, Deleted Scenes
Director:
- Roland Emmerich
(Godzilla, ID4, The Patriot, Stargate, Universal Soldier)
Producer:
- Dean Devlin, Mark Gordon and Gary Levinsohn
Screenplay:
- Robert Rodat
Music:
- John Williams
Cast:
- Colonel Benjamin ‘The Ghost’ Martin: Mel Gibson
Gabriel Edward Martin: Heath Ledger
Aunt Charlotte Putnam Selton: Joely Richardson
Colonel William Tavington: Jason Isaacs
Colonel Harry Burwel: Chris Cooper
Major Jean Villeneuve: Tchéky Karyo
Anne Patricia Howard: Lisa Brenner
Dan Scott: Donal Logue
John Billings: Leon Rippy
Captain Wilkins: Adam Baldwin
Thomas Martin: Gregory Smith
Margaret Martin: Mika Boorem
Susan Martin: Skye McCole Bartusiak
Nathan Martin: Trevor Morgan
Life is anything but a bowl of cherries for Colonel Benjamin ‘The Ghost’ Martin (Mel Gibson).Despite proving himself in the French and Indian Wars, it appears those deedscount for nothing now his wife has passed away and he lives in peace withhis seven children and a housekeeper on their South Carolina plantation.
The film begins in 1776, just as the Declaration of Independence is about tobe signed.No more war, is Martin’s policy, but his eldest son, Gabriel (Heath Ledger)wants to sign up for the American army and, as expected, comes back injured.There’s worse to come though when the war, literally, comes home to him andthe British, portrayed as the baddies as usual, make their presence felt withGabriel taken away to be hung. To add insult to injury, Martin’s second-eldestson, Thomas (Gregory Smith) is offed by the leader of the pack, ColonelWilliam Tavington (Jason Isaacs). To add insult to insult to injury,Tavington orders that their house is given a right, royal torching.Naturally Martin vows to get Gabriel back at least and then gathers togethera private brigade to wage war on the entire English army.
War is depected as the pointless farce that it is as opposing army squares upagainst opposing army in what may as well just be a legalised firing squad,with a large amount of blood being spilt, certainly more than you’d expectfor a 15-certificate action movie, but The Patriot gets away with itbecause it’s harking back to historical situations and not quipping, “I’llbe back”.
The possibly-future Mrs. Jamie Theakston, Joely Richardson, affectsa dodgy deep South accent and plays Martin’s sister-in-law Charlotte.
There’s also a few stomach churning clichés and American gung-ho speechesspoken as the film progresses, rather reminiscent of the ridiculous monologueby Bill Pullman in Emmerich’sIndependence Day.
Presented in the original 2.35:1 widescreen ratio, the anamorphic picture isstrong and sharp most of the time, save for some artifacts early on, plusin some later interior scenes.The average bitrate is a low 4.48Mb/s, occasionally peaking above 8Mb/s.
The sound is perfect though, with a typical war-like score from JohnWilliams and battle sound FX ripping through every speaker in Dolby Digital 5.1for English only, while Hungarians have to make do with Dolby Pro Logic.
Steven Seagal’s The Patriot
– absolutely nothing to do with this film.
Extras :First off are two Trailers, one a 52-second teaser and the other lastingtwo minutes. There are three featurettes, two lasting ten minutes apiece andfull of film crew chat and clips, The True Patriots and The Art ofWar, while the third, Visual Effect, takes a brief look at thespecial FX in two scenes.
The Conceptual Art to Film Comparison compares between the two in anumber of cases, the Gallery of Cast Portraits carries scores ofpictures and there are six Deleted Scenes, each with optionaldirector’s commentary. At least half of these should have been put back intothe film.
Finally, we have a feature-length commentary from director Roland Emmerichand producer Dean Devlin.
Again, we have the usual 28 chapters from Columbia, which isn’t enough forthis lengthy movie. – just the right amount for an 89-minute film.Most of the menus are animated with sound.
There are subtitles in 17 languages :English, Dutch, Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew,Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, Turkish and Dutch.
Overall, this was a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be, butit does irk you that it keeps ganging up the French and the Americans againstthe British.
Fans of the film though should note that the picture, sound and extras scorewell enough to warrant a purchase.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.