The Patriot: Difference between revisions
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** Really, despite the movie's reputation for being British, ''most'' of the British soldiers are shown to dislike Tavington's orders and tactics... ultimately their sin is going along with them anyway.
* [[Evil Brit]] - Again, Tavington is spot on. To a much lesser extent General Cornwallis, his staff and Tavington's loyalist aide-de-camp. Yet, they all belong to the least sympathetic characters of the story, mainly because [[Aristocrats Are Evil]].
* [[Evil Feels Good]]: Tavington's real motivation. He claims it's about gaining honor and esteem through victory, but various of his actions and reactions make it clear that he's simply an egomaniac and a psychopath using the war as a chance to indulge himself. When he points his pistol at Benjamin Martin for the first time, Martin doesn't react, simply [[Facing Death With Dignity|facing the possibility of his death with strength and dignity]]. Disappointed with this reaction, Tavington turns the pistol on Martin's children to get the pleading he was hoping for.
* [[Fake American]] - Heath Ledger as Gabriel
** Joely Richardson, too. She's a Brit, but plays the sexy sister-in-law/aunt.
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* [[Historical Hero Upgrade]]: Martin is chiefly based on Francis Marion, the Swamp Fox, the foremost guerrilla fighter of the Revolution; unfortunately, Marion had no qualms about slavery (he certainly didn't free any of his slaves). Hence, to make Martin more sympathetic to modern audiences, Martin is made to reflect the anti-slavery sentiments of John Laurens, a South Carolina Revolutionary leader who was anti-slavery.
* [[Historical Villain Upgrade]]: Although Banastre Tarelton, the prototype for Tavington, was a rather nasty individual (cf his actions at the Waxhaws Massacre and his fervent support of the Slave Trade as an MP), he was not nearly as bad as the film would have you believe. Many of the things Tavington does, such as locking up villagers inside their church and then setting it and them on fire, are the kinds of things Nazis did, rather than 18th century British soldiers.
* [[Hollywood History]]: Aside from most of the battle depicted, about two thirds of the movie. However, it's not meant to be a documentary and no one involved with making it ever claimed it was... it's an action-drama set during the Revolution. It's essentially meant to be about [[Rule of Cool|the spirit of the Revolution, as opposed to exact historical fact]].
* [[Hollywood Tactics]]: Lord Cornwallis, did you ever learn that you DON'T fire cannons into the center of your army unless you want to hit them too? Remarkable though, this is [[Truth in Television]] because there were occasions where Cornwallis actually did fire cannons into his own troops in order to hit the Americans.
** The whole final battle in general, which was a mix between the Battle of Cowpens, and the Battle of Guilford Courthouse (The latter one the British actually won!). It is very very difficult to hide a reserve army of app. 10.000 men only 500 meters away from the enemy behind a small hill. It was impossible for Cornwallis ''not'' to notice it. Although the Battle of Cowpens ''did'' have a forward line of Militia luring the British into [[Suicidal Overconfidence|charging headlong]] into the better-trained regulars hiding behind a dip in the terrain. The circumstances of the Battle of Cowpens and the battle in the movie were rather different, of course.
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* [[Old Shame]]: Benjamin Martin's tenure during the French And Indian War.
* [[One Bullet Left]]: Benjamin Martin deliberately saves a special bullet made from one of his murdered son's lead soldiers especially for the [[Big Bad]] who killed him, Colonel Tavington. Subverted in that while he does get his final, poetic justice-y shot in on Tavington, a cannonball landing nearby throws off his aim and only wounds the villain, leading to a rather fierce duel between Benjamin and the now ''very'' pissed-off Tavington in the midst of the battle.
** From the way he looks at it, both when making it and when pulling it out of his pouch, it's unlikely it was deliberate... Martin actually seems surprised that he's essentially going to shoot Tavington with Tavington.
* [[Papa Wolf]]: Benjamin Martin.
* [[Parental Hypocrisy]]: Gabriel spends the night with his fiancée, Anne Howard, and her family. Mrs. Howard sews Gabe into a bundling bag for the night, to keep him and Anne from getting up to anything. Afterwards, Gabe and Anne talk, while her dad listens nervously at the door.
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* [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]]: Benjamin Martin does this twice: the first time, {{spoiler|he ambushes the British detachment that captured his oldest son after Tavington shot his second oldest in the back}}. The second time, {{spoiler|Martin keeps his promise to kill Tavington by the war's end}}.
** Gabriel also attempts this after {{spoiler|Tavington corrals a bunch of innocent townspeople -- including his new bride (who was also his [[Unlucky Childhood Friend]]) -- into their town's church and burns it down, killing everyone inside.}} His didn't work.
** Also, the ambush can be considered as both a [[Roaring Rampage of Rescue]] to save Gabriel and a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]] as
* [[Running Gag]]: Gabriel and Anne have -- and continue to -- slip ink into one another's tea. Both are seen at one point or another smiling with ink-stained teeth)
* [[Screw the Rules, I Have a Nuke]]: Col. Tavington in his introductory scene. When Martin tries to reason with him about his brutal conduct by citing the Rules of War, Tavington responds by aiming a pistol at his head (an unarmed civilian, natch) and asks him if he would like a lesson in the rules of war. [[Kick the Dog|Then he points it at Martin's children]].
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