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Available now on R1 DVD (R2 in January).

The Patriot was meant to be a boys' action-adventure film for the summer. Actually, behind the macho bluster, it's the ultimate chick-flick for 'Loyal Chicks with Attitude', especially with the deleted scenes...

The hero of the film is Will, a dashing, somewhat maverick young British cavalry officer who is seeking his fortune and trying to restore the name of his scandal-ruined family by brave deeds in the American War. He also happens to be strikingly handsome, and swashbuckles with real elegance and flair (check out various cavalry charges, and the stunning swordfight in Chapter 24). In the course of the story, he finds himself enmeshed in feuds with Charlie, his unsympathetic and ungrateful boss (see esp. Additional Scenes 4 & 6), and with a vindictive and psychotic Rebel guerrilla, Ben Martin. The latter character and his family are given a disproportionate amount of screen-time, however, which detracts from the main narrative. Indeed, at times the script seems lacking in focus.

Will also fights creepy Deliverance-type rednecks who use germ-warfare (Additional Scene 5), and eliminates a whole swathe of soppy and insipid secondary characters who have no other plot function except human wallpaper/kindling. Unfortunately, the scriptwriter was not among them...

The script is peculiar in that somehow it never manages to bring our dashing hero into the same room as the female lead - Charlotte, a winsome blonde with a remarkable screen-filling bosom, who instead ends up with her old brother-in-law, the villainous Martin. This may well have been a postmodern ironic way of avoiding the well-worn cliche of the Southern belle berating the hero with "You-burned-mah-Daddy's-plantation" before she jumps on him and pins him to the mattress...

However, the absence of on-screen romantic action clearly also allows the viewer to supply her own fantasy. There are certainly plenty of opportunities for conjuring hurt/comfort scenarios, when our young hero gets wounded. Additional Scene 6 is a real winner, with Will being verbally bullied again by Charlie, just after receiving medical attention for a gashed, possibly broken rib sustained while swashbuckling. It was clearly cut to prevent the audience "setting fire to the ushers", in the classic Sweet Liberty phrase, as this is the nearest we get to Sweet Liberty Rule 3, "Take people's clothes off". The combination of flowing locks, large, expressive eyes, bare chest, and a frilly shirt torn and bloodstained at the flank is highly dangerous to the emotional equilibrium...

The ending is inconclusive, perhaps even more savagely ironic. Without giving his side time to heal, the indomitable Will is soon charging into battle again at Cowpens. He is unhorsed in a singularly horrible manner (disrespectful use of U.S. flag), but nevertheless engages Martin in hand to hand combat, putting up a brave fight despite being already hurt (which makes his heavy fall from the horse especially wince-inducing). However, the villain actually triumphs! Will is last seen losing consciousness on the battlefield, after suffering extensive and dangerous wounds (Chapter 26). Some more meaningless scenes involving Martin and family follow (which surely should have been cut), when what we really want to know is, "Does the hero survive and recover?"

A flawed film, then, but with a scrumptiously swashbuckling hero. The very inadequacies of the script and lack of clear plot-focus are, however, what make it an excellent springboard for fanfic.