The Patriot (2000)

Colonel Tavington is so evil that by the second hour he’s less a character than a warning sign. Jason Isaacs plays him with a sneer you can see from orbit, and the movie needs him that way, because The Patriot is a revenge story in a tricorn hat. Mel Gibson’s Benjamin is a farmer who wants nothing to do with the war until it shows up at his door, and the battles are big and loud without lingering on anything gruesome. Heath Ledger steals the movie as Gabriel, the son who believes in the cause before his dad does. At 165 minutes it’s long, and the romance with Joely Richardson’s Charlotte feels tacked on. Historians have criticized how it paints the British and how lightly it handles slavery in South Carolina. It made $215.3 million worldwide on a reported $110M. A 6.2 because the battles and Ledger land, and the history is mostly costume. $192 says the oldest person on your couch has seen this way too many times and narrates every battle before it happens.

What works: Heath Ledger brings real conviction as Gabriel, and the big battle scenes have scale and momentum.

What doesn’t: Tavington is a cartoon, the runtime drags, and the movie’s take on history skips past some uncomfortable truths about the era.

Who it’s for: War movie fans who want a big, old-fashioned Hollywood epic with a clear villain.