Hey folks, Harry here with a first look at THE PATRIOT. The screening was being held to gauge the reaction to the threshold of violence in the film. To see if what was there was too much for an audience, to see if it went past good taste and to see if it was just gratuitous or not. From what I hear, the first screening of what Roland Emmerich feels is his first cut is still a couple of weeks away, this screening was to help him find the fat... if there was any. From the sound of Omega Prime though... it seems this cut just blew him away. We'll have to wait and see I s'pose...This isn't the first time Omega Prime has joined us, he's also provided advance looks at Reindeer Games, Titan AE, Mission To Mars, D-TOX... So I believe that covers Miramax, 20th Century Fox, Disney and Universal... so this would be Omega's first Sony review. Now he needs to get Warner Brothers, New Line and Paramount to get a full straight.
Tonight, Sony Pictures held its first screening for "The Patriot", staring Mel Gibson, Produced/Directed by the Centropolis duo of Roland Emmerich/Dean Devlin, and Written by Robert Rodat (Saving Private Ryan). Going into the film I was a bit cynical. Rodat's original screenplay for Saving Private Ryan, although a badass action/adventure, was subject to a major re-write by Frank Darabont before it turned into the Academy Award nominee that it was. Devlin has proved himself to be great at marketing films; and Emmerich has the look and feel of his films down but since "Stargate" seems to have lacked a good script. Personally, I think that considering how well ID4 did with a fair script they didn't even bother to put any effort into the poor script that was "Godzilla".
But "The Patriot", at a running time of aproximately 3 hours and a very hard R-rating, is that rare film that both audiences and critics alike will embrace. Oscar season should be quite good to the film as well. What scares me is that their is already consideration to edit the film down to a more playable 2 hour 30 minute length and a more friendly PG-13 rating. Now, I usually support such efforts when film-makers become self-indulgent; but did "Meet Joe Black" really need to be three hours long? This film, however, reminds me of "Titanic"; when Cameron recounted stories about how the studio was supportive becasue it was the sort of film everyone always wanted to make.
First, I want to say that "Saving Private Ryan" and "Braveheart" are two of my all time favorite films; I may like "The Patriot" even better. It is done in the tradition of classic hollywood. Very old school, with a Lean and/or Spielberg touch, it is epic in every aspect. I'm not really going to review the film's story as this is more of an editorial. I want to take this oppurtunity to caution everyone at Sony and Centropolis that in its current form it has a chance at not only winning every Academy Awarb but being the first R-rated film to top 300 million at the US BoxOffice. If you change it to make it more "commercially-viable" you must realize that the critics and the awards ceremonies will give it the cold shoulder; the word-of-mouth will not be as strong. Right now, all the major players involved (Devlin, Emmerich, Rodat, and Gibson) have guaranteed nominations. Don't cut out the character development that makes us so emotionally involved during those twists; let everyo! ne feel the way I did when Gibson says, "Im going to kill you soon". That violence is necessary to drive the points home.
Thank you for your time.
Omega Prime
