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Rating:  -
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel." -Samuel Johnson
"Democracy is messy." -Donald Rumsfeld
This movie is childish. I don't mean it's a children's movie. I mean it is conceived at the mental and emotional level of a twelve-year-old boy and meant to be enjoyed by adults. That doesn't bother me. Almost all blockbusters are.
What bothers me is how Emmerich, Gibson & co. presume to use one of the most important events in the history of mankind to enact the same cliche-filled melodramatic revenge fantasy Braveheart was but with different outfits. The soaring music, the jingoistic dialogue, the convenient joining of causes and the blankfaced dismissal of actual historical details are all too typical. The makers of this movie care about The Revolutionary War as much as the makers of Braveheart cared about Scotland's fight for independence in the middle ages. That is to say: they don't care a whit. They're selling movie tickets. The establishment of the world's first modern democracy & my eventual home is subsumed to Mad Max running around in the woods getting his war on. It's enough to make me long for the Schwartzenegger/Stallone revenge shoot 'em ups of the '80s. At least those were honest in their lack of pretentions.
Of course "the enemy" is a thoroughly generic evil empire straight out of Star Wars. Every British soldier is either a sociopath, wuss, incompetent or a blank-faced stormtrooper. Yeah, that's how they conquered 1/4 of the world using a small island nation as it's home turf. They were a bunch of crazies and goofs. Riiiiiight. The main baddy is allegedly a British Army officer. That's odd. I didn't know the British Army has ever been in the practice of giving commissions to 1980's Bond villians. All that's missing from this guy is the maniacal laughter after every dastardly deed. WAHAHAHAHA!!!
The colonists are as pure as a virgin's promise and adorable too. Lots of blond hair & rosey cheeks. No wonder the blacks are so grateful and faithful to their benevolent white employers. Gives new meaning to the term "slave wages." Even when the colonists do something evil, it's not really evil because the bad guys did it first (eye for an eye) or there is a larger context to understand. Whenever the enemy does something evil, it is because...they're evil and that's that. That sort of "we're right, they're wrong" thinking is not patriotism, it is nationalism. Look up both words and compare them carefully. As an aside: it is a little-discussed fact that literally thousands of loyalists were murdered, raped, tortured, beaten and had their homes looted & burned to the ground by victorious colonists after the war. Democracy is messy and it had been "a long war." Perhaps it might have occurred to Emmerich, et al that people are people and all people are capable of evil, even colonists. Life is not so black and white as the makers of blockbusters would have you believe. Read a book.
Personally, it makes me more patriotic to think America's forefathers, both famous and anonymous, were great because their deeds were great. They were as deeply flawed as anyone else in the history of mankind but the pulled it together and rose to the occassion and accomplished a real life miracle and secured the freedom hundreds of millions of people, including myself, continue to enjoy.
Rating:  -
...Wherein a German filmmaker by the name of Roland Emerich makes a movie where evil British Redcoats commit a vile atrocity against American freedom fighters... an atrocity that in reality was perpetrated by German troops against French villagers in WWII. Nice one Roland. What are you going to do next - make a film where the British gas 12 million people in Auschwitz before the plucky German freedom fighters come to the rescue?
Rating:  -
Amidst the steady stream of disgusting, vulgar, and /or western civilization-bashing crap that flows like a sewer from our Left Coast, we get a little reminder every once in awhile that the United States is not completely the Great Satan. We do have a redeeming quality or two. Thank God for a generation that didn't bow the knee to British oppression and tyranny. (Anyone who thinks the British were righteous during that period probably also thinks that Islam is a religion of peace.) Today we are the world's oldest democracy because that generation "stayed the course" (oh, the mindless clichés!), fought barefoot in the snow, and defeated the most powerful empire in the world (strangely reminiscent of the Vietcong).
When I'm feeling low about the porn-saturated, Bush-decimated, corporate-dominated, widely-hated USA, I'll watch this movie and imagine a time that my people not only believed in virtue, but actually behaved as though there was something more important than self-interest, self-esteem, self-awareness, and getting off.
If I seem a little overly passionate, it's because I've mistakenly spent time reading the one-star reviews. When I calm down my review of the movie will probably just be "It was pretty good." In the meantime, I'm compelled to respond in my review to Bob's "family values" review:
So you do or don't like how he doesn't want to fight? Your sarcasm makes it difficult to determine if you approve of anything about the movie. You really should study up on the definition of fascism. Fighting an invading army does not fit the definition of fascist. Or is the Iraqi resistance fascist too? Maybe it was the flag scene that bothered you. Perhaps we should not have a flag at all?? When you see the US flag do you envision a giant swastika? I like the way you put words in Gibson's mouth like "God must be on our side." It's easier to debate your opponent if you get to pick his arguments. Thanks to our revolutionary generation, you and I both get to say whatever foolish things we want to.
I notice that you really love the Bourne movies (as do I). I guess your "blood lust shall be satisfied with just killings of the wicked" too, as long as the killer is sufficiently remorseful and is killing unrepentent CIA (read "SS") agents. That's the "liberal" thing to do! How absurd to suggest that the British would burn a church full of people! Now the CIA, that's believable! With the aid of our jack-booted marines, they're burning mosques full of children at this very moment! I hope Michael Moore is filming it! The truth about the Christian fascists must be told!!!
If this generation's warriors who have bled and died in Iraq and Afghanistan are going to have their heroic deeds told on film (REGARDLESS OF ANYONE'S OPINION OF THE POLITICS THAT GOT THEM THERE!) it will have to be someone like Mel Gibson that does it, someone with the ability to withstand the hateful and moronic attacks of our "patriotic" countrymen on the Left.
Rating: -
Excellent movie and acting, Story superb if you can overlook hollywood political correctness recreating history
Rating: -
Always a late bloomer, I discover things after they've been out for a while - that's just my way. I finally rented this flick and watched it the whole way through...and it's great! I really loved it! There is alittle bit of everything in it - for men and women. There's war, romance - and it keeps you interested the whole time. Trying to watch all of Heath Ledger's work since his death - I'm so glad I saw this. This was definately Mel Gibson's movie (and he was great too) but Heath held his own as Mel's oldest son. He's beautiful to look at - but he showed such promise...you just knew he was destined for greatness. I now have this movie in my dvd collection - and would recommend it to anyone. You will be entertained.
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