User reviews

I've seen a lot of Steven Seagal movies. I enjoy a lot of them. But I have to be honest, I don't always know if "laughing with him or at him". If you know what I'm saying. Steven Seagal in "The Patriot" is the Seagal I like best. He speaking quietly of "important" issues and then throws some guy through a window. He's a modern day Billy Jack and, every now and then, I need that. "The Patriot" is not Seagal's finest hour but it's not one of his weak ones either. It okay. It gets a passing grade.

The Patriot (nothing to do with the Mel Gibson film of the same name) came out Steven Seagal was still doing that 'saving the environment' thing in his movies. Which is fine. But it doesn't make for good action.

When the plot(?) of this film finally kicked in I saw the twist(?) coming a mile off. Seagal's anti-warfare, care-for-mother-nature stance is not very subtle. For a film that was originally going to debut in the cinemas it is shot very much like a TV movie despite some wonderful shots of the country by Dean Semler, the photographer of Dances with Wolves.

Steven Seagal does like 1 fight scene in the entire film and it's totally boring. As an action film it fails, as a drama it stinks, as an environmental message it's obvious. Avoid like Ebola crossed with plague.

Continuing my plan to watch every Steven Seagal movie in order I come to

The Patriot (1998)

Following his split from Warner Bros, Segal's business partner, Jules Nasso, put together a four-picture deal for Seagal. This was the first film that the financing had been solely raised by Seagal/Nasso Productions. There were no company logos, just Inter light Pictures and Baldwin/Cohen Productions present in association with Seagal/Nasso Productions

Apparently Seagal thought audiences were paying to see his movies for his acting ability, so he tries to show case that here as Doctor Wesley McClaren and its pretty embarrassing when he does try to do some serious acting. Like attempting to portray frustration as the soldiers die despite his best effortsnto save them.

I have to say, for me, this is the first bad movie in his filmography. Seagal adopts a really bad Western accent here. When combined with his trademark whispery voice, half the time I could not make out what he was saying. I'm the end I had to put the Subtitles.

Most of this movie is so moronic and implausible it beggers disbelief. There is lots of easily spotted foreshadowing and screenplay 101's littered all the way through the movie. I did make it to the ridiculous end, though.

The Patriot was the first Steven Seagal movie to be released straight to video in most countries. In just 10 years he had gone from promising action star to straight to video.

Okay, okay, I'll grant that this is NOT a Steven Seagal action movie. That's fine. Seagal's action movies are no great shakes anyway. This is instead a virus-outbreak scientific drama. Fine. Trouble is, the level of science in this movie is about second-grade or less.

The disease is something viral. A character announces early in the movie, as the outbreak begins, that people are going to start dying in 1-2 days. However, many days go by and many characters are exposed to the virus, but the only ones who actually die are the ones that the script needs to die to show that several different experimental cures didn't work.

A character says this particular virus is 10 times as lethal as anthrax. With the mortality rate in this movie, if anthrax is one-tenth as lethal, anthrax must be about as awful as a sneezing fit.

"Universal precautions" is the term that describes how health care workers prevent the spread of disease between patients (and to the workers themselves). It means that ALL patients are considered to be contagious. So health care workers wear gloves when touching all patients and change between patients, and masks when anything might be in the air, and eye protectors when they might be splashed, etc. In "The Patriot", the government anti-viral team wears moonsuits from "Outbreak", while every other character takes ZERO precautions. Doctors don't wear gloves to handle patients with bloody vomit all over themselves. Nurses don't wear masks around patients with hacking coughs.

Dumb, dumb, dumb...

"The Patriot" staring Steven Segal is a late 90's thriller/action movie that is not really a thriller and not really an action movie; rather it is Steven Segal playing Steven Segal by another name, but this time he is a Native American country doctor who kicks butt every now an again. Baring the obvious plot line holes, the movie itself is absolutely amazing in terms of the blatant disregard for character devolvement.

From a marketing standpoint, I was left asking myself, "who in the world were they aiming at?" The bio-thriller plot-line is way off the mark for the middle America crowd and Segal as silk cowboy would never sell to anyone even if you deep fried him and put him between a kripsy-cream donut. The whole movie is just way out there, even for Segal fans, because it simply does not deliver on any level.

This movie wasn't released in cinemas . It went straight to video/DVD . Wise move , because the movie SUCKS . Also , it was kinda a prophecy for Seagal , because now he keeps making only straight-to-DVD crap. This is third movie in Seagal's ecologic trilogy ("On deadly ground" and "Fire down below" are the other two).

This is more of a thriller , where Seagal plays a doctor (sic!). The movie is based on book , but I've never read the book , so I don't know how faithful it is to the book. Anyway , the plot is filled with terrible stupidity and not too much of action . Seagal's tries to act . "Tries" is the right word. Unless you can count his smile as an acting ability. The movie is quite nicely photographed by the same guy , who worked on "Dancing with the wolves". This is the best thing about this movie.

If you like good thriller go somewhere else. If you like action go somewhere else . If you like Seagal he had better movies . I give it 1/10.

Mr. Seagal must be seriously out of touch with his audience. People who go see his movies expect action, violence, stunts and martial-arts combat: what they get here instead are a lot of boring speeches and sequences teaching us that oriental/traditional remedies are better than western medicine, that biological warfare is a bad thing, that militia members are a bunch of overweight or underage weirdos in camouflage outfits, that native americans (especially their elder) are always wise and peaceful and so on.

I thought "On Deadly Ground" and "The Glimmer Man" were bad, but compared to "The Patriot" they both look like serious contenders for an Oscar. There's more action in a Meg Ryan picture than in this film. No wonder this was released outside the USA first. I wouldn't be surprised if this sinks like a stone in USA theaters and then comes out quickly on video/cable.

I admire Seagal's honesty: he looks sincere and desperate to convey his positive message to the audience, but judging from the overall quality of "The Patriot", he'll manage to reach only a few hundreds people and further alienate his fans.

Maybe all the good bits were left on the cutting room floor: the trailers show a couple of scenes that are not in the theatrical release. But I don't think I'll be buying the Director's Cut, should it ever come out on video...

every now and then we get so used to seeing someone portrait a certain persona so much that we tend to be disappointed,turned off or act like a spoiled brat when there is a change.as goes the seagal movie the patriot.many have dogged this movie and also fire down below as the worst or pure garbage.folks judge for yourself but don't try to compare this movie to his earlier action heavy flicks or else you will miss the point of the film and will not broaden any perspectives you can achieve when watching films in a objective manor.with that said,i can enjoy this film for what it is,a seagal film with more plot than mindless action as usual.

You get a good portion of Steven Seagal environmental anxieties, and some breathless mountain views along with cow-boy scenes (or alternatively use parts of any remains of the HORSE WHISPERER). You then add a large piece of OUTBREAK virus or similar (attention it must be more lethal and at least Biohazard Level 4) wrapped around a fat Militia group leader. You add one teaspoon of martial arts, and a zip of explosions and gunfire for the taste. Add the classic red Indian herbs for the extra taste. Serve immediately.

What is the name of the film you get ?: The Patriot. Perhaps the worst film of Steven Seagal. I am sure that Seagal tried to say something in this film except the usual I-am-a-cook (but-also-an-ex-seal) but his recipe was confusing and the taste was awful.

I think this is one hell of a movie...........We can see Steven fighting around with his martial art stuff again and like in all Segal movies there's a message in it, without the message it would be one of many action/fighting movies but the message is what makes segal movies great and special.

Man, I think people have forgotten how to watch a movie. Everyone thinks they're a critic. They comment on things that the average movie goer doesn't even know or think about.

I enjoyed the film. It was what I was expecting therefore was not disappointed. Steven gets a bad rap for putting his views into his films but that's also a reason to watch. What's even more funny is the people that complain about his films, say he's the worst and that we shouldn't watch his films, yet watch his movies anyway. All so they can comment on how bad they are. Who's the dummy? If you don't like his work, don't watch it. Then you won't have to subject yourself to this supposedly painful event.

Stop comparing movies to other movies and watch a movie on an individual basis and you may begin to enjoy films again.

It's definitely not a movie for Seagal fans as he barely shows of his sweet Aikido moves in this. It's just a boring attempt at drama by Seagal who might actually think people take his movies seriously. Well I like Seagal movies and 80s/90s action flicks, they're fun guilty pleasures but this is not one of them. This movie doesn't qualify as an action movie as there's barely any action in it, it's another movie from Seagal used to show his spiritual side, I think Steve forgot what his movies are meant to do. Seagal does play a doctor in this which made me laugh and he does have a few good lines and shows a couple of cool moves but it is not worth watching just for those few moments.

An American action thriller; A story about a doctor and former immunologist who fights a local radical militia group which has released a deadly airborne virus. But for an insubstantial ending, this film would have had enough to justify its running time. The story idea of a rural bioengineered epidemic with rival groups trying to find an antitoxin in a race against time is quite interesting, and the supporting performances are good with notes of humour from the remote town residents. However, some scenes hang heavy because it is a hybrid story that doesn't compensate with enough action sequences. The cinematography, particularly of the Montana landscape is impressive. As an aside, the story's theme plays to a belief system and a cultural interest close to Steven Seagal's heart, that of civil rights of Native Americans in the United States, so it is an admirable effort to cover minority's customs, and also has a realistic note of compassion about a doctor for his community and an idea about protecting the status quo which is universal.

Since I am not a big Steven Seagal fan, I thought this was a pretty good movie. It is apparent that his fans are very displeased with this drama that lacks an over abundance of martial arts and brute force.

Gailard Sartain plays a self claimed patriot leader of a militia in a standoff with the ATF for weapons violations. He surrenders with the intentions of releasing a deadly virus. Seagal is a former CIA agent turned country doctor that pressures himself to find the antidote for the lethal bug that has incapacitated a small town. His Grandpa's Native American herbal remedy figures into the salvation.

Notable appearances by L.Q. Jones, Camilla Belle and Silas Weir Mitchell. My personal favorite in this movie is Whitney Yellow Robe. She is stunning and appears to have what it takes to take on a more challenging role.

Despite the far fetched ending, this was a decent movie that could have used a lot more action.

There's something painfully new age about Steven Seagal movies when he was at the height of his fame in the mid 1990s . The irony was that he couldn't see the woods for the trees and insisted cut down the forest . People go to watch bad guys get mashed by the good guys in action movies . The problem was that while ON DEADLY GROUND the portrayal of good and bad was too black and white there by allowing the good guy to commit mass murder on the bad guys and getting away with it ( Yes the good guy in that film should have been charged with multiple murder regardless of his motives ) but the problem with THE PATRIOT is that logically there's no real idealogical difference between the villains and the hero in this movie

Well first of all THE PATRIOT isn't as bad as most other Seagal movies such as ON DEADLY GROUND and I wouldn't say it's the worst film called THE PATRIOT whose accolade is held by the Mel Gibson star vehicle where he declares war on the goose stepping jackbooted Red Coats during the American Civil War but this is merely damning praise similar to saying a Junta of some banana republic is infinitely better than Adolph Hitler . It's a very strange film that often gives the impression that it wants to be a fast paced bio-thriller similar to say OUTBREAK or perhaps even the original version of THE CRAZIES with a very anti right wing / militarist agenda but any subtle and latent subtext is missing because it's a Steven Seagal movie which means new age methods to present day problems which are self contradictory similar to Prof Richard Dawkins hare brained schemes such as atheists for Jesus and the Brights Movement . In fact you're left with the feeling there's several different films trying to escape from the confusion

Now I come to think of it Seagal would be at home with dull and confused movement . The villain of the piece is a militia leader called Floyd Chisolm who wants to see America return to the good old days of the founding fathers when America was built on free values . It's not difficult to believe that Seagal's character ( Apologies if I used the word character because it's Seagal playing Seagal ) agrees with Chisolm and says so towards the end . Before we reach this scene we're constantly shown Seagal riding around on a horse , hob nobbing with Native Americans , flower arranging ( No seriously he does ) and criticising the American bio-weapons division that he used to work for , so much so you wonder why don't Seagal and Chisolm join together and fight global corporate capitalism starting in Montana ? That's because Chisolm murders and kidnaps people and is greedy for power and Seagal isn't , so despite wanting to see a world where the industrial revolution didn't happen and negating all the good work that science has brought humanity in the last 200 hundred years and both sharing an unhealthy fetish for guns one's inherently good and one's inherently bad

Like so many other films with an obvious message the message gets lost in the delivery . It does make the point that holistic medicine is good and that it insinuates modern medicine is bad because you know , it's controlled by ruthless corporations that might actually have a cure for everything but they don't want to produce cures because it's much more profitable to treat illness rather than cure it outright . And in a scene that bludgeons the audience over the head in its message we're told that " Viruses are soon going to be the smart bombs of the future " Right so if you release a virus in Afghanistan it'll wipe out of the Afghans opposed to NATO , jump next door to Pakistan and kill all the Taliban and their allies in Al-Queda . Wow that is smart . Smarter than most of this film in fact

I discovered "The Patriot" in a DVD-store and thought it could be a real action thriller. No, it´s instead a low budget movie with a ridiculous story. It´s no doubt a cable-movie and not one for the theatre. Fortunately after 90 minutes the movie stops otherwise the audience should have taken an anti-virus against sleep. One thing came over: it was the nice country the film has been shot. You can really feel the American air but that´s all. I hope for Steven Seagal that he finally succeeds in a big hit. It is not a must see because I and my wife voted average 4/10.

I don't know about the rest of the viewers of this movie but personally I'm dead sick and tired of Steven Seagal films. When Above the Law came out, it was a great action film. Wahoo. Now in the Patriot, Steven Seagal plays Steven Seagal from Above the Law. I get tired of seeing no character changes. It's the same character, time after time, after time. He needs change. This movie was probably one of the worst action films I have ever seen. Calling it an action movie is giving it almost too much credit because there's too few action scenes and they're spread far apart throughout the film. I guess they wanted to go for some drama but it was a meaningless try as the film portrays nothing but the regular squinty-eyed-Steven-Seagal we've seen thousands of times over. Get a new look and lose the pony tail is all I have to say, I definitely do not recommend viewing this film in any form, go out to eat, heck, rent Barney goes to Vegas but do not under any circumstances rent this movie under the precept that Seagal will make a great performance.

Basically, this is a very good film. It is very different from Seagal's other films though, which unfortunately may turn off some of his fans. Unlike some of the other films, this does not feel like a 'Seagal vehicle'. You get to see plenty of the other characters as well and all of Mr. Seagal's actions are not the same as we've seen before. The concept of him being an 'intellectual' in something other than bombs and other weaponry is a nice change. Although there are some unrealistic parts to the film (some more obvious than others), in general you can let them slide since the film is fun to watch.

It boils down to this: If you are looking for a classic Seagal action film, sorry, but you're going to be disappointed. Watch it anyway for the fun of it. If you're open to seeing Seagal without the action, it's well worth a look. I personally believe it is some of the best work he's done in quite a while.

It seems that all people didn't like Steven Seagal: Just take a look at his nomination list, there are only razzie awards nominations (with one win) for him, but I think he didn't earn anything of it. I saw good movies with Steven Seagal, I saw bad movies with Steven Seagal. And THE PATRIOT (1998) is one of his best movies, nearly as good as UNDER SIEGE (1992) or HARD TO KILL (1990). THE PATRIOT shows his activities to protect nature. Surely, this movie is not a great one, and I must say that there is more violence than I like, and why must Seagal's best friend L. Q. Jones die the death of a victim? The role of Dr. McClaren is one of Seagal's best performances. He has, as always, a very good charisma. And in summary, THE PATRIOT is good entertainment-and with an average rating of only 4 points the most underrated movie of all time.

Regards, Hans-Dieter

Okay, some other people have commented that this isn't an action flick, so I don't need to rehash that (even though I just did). This isn't exactly a let down, in fact, it's nice on occasion to see an actor try something different. But, unfortunately, this isn't one of those occasions.

Now, the story: non-existent. This film lacks in storyline almost as much as 'Showgirls' did. Sure, they throw in a couple environmentalist, no, not even environmentalist, something else, tidbits here and there to please Seagal (being that that's what he's into). This doesn't make a story, not even close. Now, the ending... Even those amongst us who actually liked this film... the ending, you have to admit it was a bit much, or a lot stupid.

Now, from what I understand this was a direct-to-video film (at least in the states), but this is even too good for this one. This piece of garbage should have been cable only, on TBS or Starz (late night).