I saw this movie last night.. here's my short thoughts on it:
The first thing to note about is: It is really, really, really over dramatic. Combined with a lot of
blatant symbolism ("wow.. he's melting down the last
toy soldier of his murdered son to make a bullet ... I
wonder if he's going to shoot his killer with it... ") the script is at times, just outright bad. At other times, it became completely unrealistic. An example would be the heart warming racial unity scenes. In fact, the whole movie glosses over the race issue, going so far as to make
Mel Gibson's character a large
plantation owner who ownes no slaves, but instead has employed all
free men to work his land. There's even a token
african celebration, where the jolly servants play their folk music and sing and dance with the kind and loving masters. While I
applaud the idea of
racial unity, the fact that this was
South Carolina, (the
first state to pack up and leave once someone dare
suggest they couldn't hold people in
bondage anymore) in 1776 is not only unrealistic, but pretty
insulting.
Despite all this, it's a movie (at least for me) that was
impossible to not like. This is mainly because there was lots of violence. After seeing this movie, there's no doubt in my mind that Mel Gibson is one
bad-ass motherfucker.
Blood is used in the
truck loads.
Gore,
gore,
gore. So here's what the movie really is: an $8 catharsis for blood and violence. Even though an (poor) attempt was made at drama and meaning, don't be fooled. the actors are all very competent, but still unable to hide the fact that the script was
shit.
Pure shit. If you want an action, fighting and killing with fantasic battles, go, you'll enjoy it. If your hoping to use you brain a little bit though, keep looking.
Rating:
3/
5 Stars