The Patriot

"Before they were soldiers, they were family. Before they were legends, they were heroes. Before there was a nation, there was a fight for freedom."

2000 2h 45m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

🍅

61%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

7.2

IMDB

★7.2TMDB · 4,505🍅61%Rotten Tomatoes●63Metacritic★7.2IMDB · 305,970

DramaHistoryWarAction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After proving himself on the field of battle in the French and Indian War, Benjamin Martin wants nothing more to do with such things, preferring the simple life of a farmer. But when his son Gabriel enlists in the army to defend their new nation, America, against the British, Benjamin reluctantly returns to his old life to protect his son.

“Before they were soldiers, they were family. Before they were legends, they were heroes. Before there was a nation, there was a fight for freedom.”

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Cast

Mel Gibson
Benjamin Martin
Heath Ledger
Gabriel Martin
Joely Richardson
Charlotte Selton
Jason Isaacs
Col. William Tavington
Chris Cooper
Col. Harry Burwell
Tchéky Karyo
Jean Villeneuve
René Auberjonois
Reverend Oliver
Lisa Brenner
Anne Howard

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Roland Emmerich
Writers: Robert Rodat, Timothy Burgard
Languages: English
Countries: Germany, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

RUNTIME

Did you know

Clocks in at 165 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$110M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

26 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: Germany, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

471+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Roland Emmerich, shot by Caleb Deschanel. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by John Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Julie Monroe shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Roland Emmerich directs. Caleb Deschanel behind the camera. John Williams scores. Julie Monroe cuts. A long sit — settle in. Profitable at the box office. Produced in Germany, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Clocks in at 165 minutes — on the longer side of feature-length cinema.
2$110M budget — tentpole studio territory.
326 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
4International production across 2 countries: Germany, United States of America.
5471+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Roland Emmerich, shot by Caleb Deschanel. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by John Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Julie Monroe shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Mel Gibson and Heath Ledger and Joely Richardson carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Before they were soldiers, they were family. Before they were legends, they were heroes. Before there was a nation, there was a fight for freedom.".
11IMDB entry: tt0187393 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 18 themes, including "daughter", "mission", "general", "southern usa".

The technical file

Cinematography: Caleb Deschanel
Original score: John Williams
Editing: Julie Monroe
Production design: Kirk M. Petruccelli
Costume design: Deborah L. Scott
Makeup / hair: Thomas Nellen
VFX supervisor: Thomas Dadras
Sound: Greg P. Russell
Stunt coordinator: Freddie Hice
Runtime: 165 min · 2h 45m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $110,000,000
Box office: $215,294,342
Return: 196% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Patriot (2000)
Rotten Tomatoes: 61% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 63/100
IMDB rating: 7.2/10 · 305,970 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 3 Oscars. 9 wins & 23 nominations total

Also by

Roland Emmerich

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Selected frames

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2020-02-25
★ 6/10
Here's Mel to give the Brits an inaccurate historical thrashing, again... The Patriot is based around one Benjamin Martin, an ex-soldier, who now happily living as a family man finds himself thrust into conflict at the break of the American Revolution. He loves the Brits does Mel Gibson, "Gallipoli", "Braveheart" and here with "The Patriot", see the pattern anyone? As with the aforementioned "Gallipoli" and "Braveheart", certain liberties have also been taken with events in "The Patriot" so as to glossy up for the eager Hollywood contingent. It's not my want to scribble about the facts of Benjamin Martin (Re: Francis Marion), or William Wallace for that matter, information as such is but a mere click away on the world wide web. So casting aside the artistic licence factors, is "The Patriot" any good? Well nearly it is -- nearly. Gibson is fine, he shoulders the burden of the film with great gusto and no shortage of emotional depth. It's very easy to accept him as a staunch family man who transforms into a blood thirsty warrior. The problems, acting wise, lay away from Gibbo's central performance. Surrounded by caricature villains (though Jason Isaacs' Tavington is deliciously vile) and underwritten characters (Chris Cooper wasted and Joely Richardson is but a mere prop), Gibson has no choice but to hog the screen. So much so it ultimately turns into a one man star vehicle, which for a costume war epic isn't a great thing really. Roland Emmerich ("Independence Day" and "Godzilla") directs and handles the battle sequences very well, there's lashings of blood as men line up to shoot and dismember one and other. While cannonball's whizz, bang and tear off body parts, it's grim, yet oddly rousing stuff. Not even the overtly flag waving and sloganeering on show can off set the impact of the well constructed battles. There is of course lots of tragedy to be found in the film, and these are some what surprisingly, tenderly handled by Emmerich, but mostly it's via an on song Gibson, who remains one of the few modern day male actors capable of believable grief. All of this is given a John Williams score that suitably flits between rousing and ethereal, and things are further boosted by the sumptuous photography from Caleb Deschanel. There should have been more thought given to the racial (slaves) aspects in the conflict, and this coupled with the bad errors of under developed characters hurts "The Patriot" as a filmic exercise, not so as to stop it being entertaining, but more to stop it being a one man show. But as it is, thanks in the main to Gibson, and in spite of the overtly evident faults, it's an above average drama. 6/10

Production companies