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1/2 out of ****
The Patriot harkens back to the good old days of Steven Seagal's preachiness, and in this latest outing of his, I think it's arguable we may have come across his worst movie yet (keep in mind, I have not seen The Foreigner or Half Past Dead). Bear in mind, worst may be negligible in comparison to the rest of his filmography, but this one just about edges out the rest.
The premise is pretty simple; Seagal is Wesley McClaren, a small town doctor who's concerned over the spread of a recent epidemic that's killing the town's population at a rapid rate. The military have the place quarantined, but are unaware that the outbreak was caused by a militia group led by Floyd Chisolm (Gailard Sartain). Anyway, Chisolm himself is infected, but can't find the cure, so he takes over the town, and discovers someone who's immune, and (gasp!), it's McClaren's own daughter! Naturally, McClaren doesn't take kindly to Chisolm's men putting their hands on her, so a slugfest will ensue.
As of now, The Patriot is probably the most incompetently written script for a Seagal film, and that alone says quite a bit. The basic premise holds a kernel of interest, but it's riddled with baffling writing. Let me get this straight, Chisolm started the infection because he can't stand the government, meaning to cause an epidemic that will devastate the population. He allowed himself to be infected because he has the cure, but it turns out this cure only slows the virus down. When he discovers this little factoid, he and his men decide to shoot down the military occupying the small town so they can take the government manufactured cure (which turns out not to be any different than their own). What?! If he believed the military had a cure the whole time, why'd he even bother spreading the infection in the first place, and in such a desolate area, where infection would hardly cause that much a ruckus.
That's just the beginning of the story's flaws. When it's stated that only McClaren's daughter isn't infected, they never bother to check the father for any signs of antibodies. Also visually noticeable is the fact that McClaren is not even the slightest bit sick, which he himself fails to note as an oddity. (From here on out, I plan to give out spoilers). Anyway, it turns out certain flowers are the cure for the disease, which explains why McClaren's daughter and his Native American father-in-law are never sick, because they're around these petals all the time. It's at this point the movie goes preachy on us, trying to force feed us a ham-fisted theme about how all of modern technology can't find a cure when a simple Native American remedy can. Seagal even says that it "took an old Blackfoot Indian to figure it out," which is actually incorrect, considering that the cure was accidentally discovered and that the Native American father-in-law didn't actually figure it out himself. To also suddenly deny the miracles of technology is pretty stupid, given that the modern world HAS discovered many cures for what were previously considered incurable illnesses.
These inconsistencies could be partially forgiven if the movie was in any way thrilling or exciting, but this is among the most boring action films in recent memory. The fight scenes are typical Seagal, meaning nobody lays so much as a finger on him and the fights last no more than a few seconds. Several action sequences lack credibility, the most obvious one being how the militia group could actually take over a town guarded by highly trained U.S. military.
Usually, most action movies try to end with a bang, to conclude with an all-out action setpiece. The Patriot does not, as it wraps things up with a shootout that lasts less than a minute. This film was a thirty-five million dollar production, where did all the money go? Certainly not in the action or the sets, which all look standard and sometimes rather cheap. Comparing this to recent, less expensive top-notch action films such as Equilibrium and The Transporter, The Patriot looks like a complete waste of cash based on visuals alone. But there's a story here, too, and it drags this abysmal movie down even further.
score /10
Li-1 21 July 2003
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0466438/ |
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21-2-2021 12:06:03