Well, I just watched The Patriot. I think I might have enjoyed it more if I was American. Or at least less cynical.

Perish the thought. Both of them.

Starts out fairly mediocre with a nice little family warmth lilt that you know isn't going to last. Mel Gibson's good at that quirky sort of humour. And incidentally, have I mentioned that his voice is now in my top ten "Voices that make me swoon" list? Seriously, watch this movie with your eyes closed. Aaaaah...

Ahem. Where was I? Oh yeah. Then there's the predictable end to innocence. After the most stunning sequence of the movie - a blistering action scene - it settles into a standard (but amusing nonetheless) guerilla warfare stint. Then things get complicated. Never too much so, though. After all, we wouldn't want to confuse any of our happily patriotic audience by unwarranted complexity, would we?. Still, though, it manages a broad portrait of all sides, and it's really not too bad.

A broad swathe of jingoistic fervour runs straight up the middle of this movie, as you might expect. The only thing that stopped this being another Independence Day for me was the occasional brilliant character moments, brief flashes of stunning acting and writing. If there'd been more of them and less silly flag-waving, this would have been a much more enjoyable 2 and three-quarters hours of my life.

Oh, and the villain was delicious. Simply wonderful. He made the moments when the ever-edible Heath Ledger wasn't on screen bearable. He swaggered. He sneered. He ponced about being as evil and vicious as ever an English-accented Disney bad-guy ever was. (Can we say Jeremy Irons? I thought we could.)

In general, not a waste of celluloid.

PS: Yes, it was abso-flogging-lutely hilarious to watch a couple of Australia's favourite sons playing American patriots. Next, I'd like to see Russell Crowe play Abraham Lincoln. Or perhaps Hugh Jackman as Henry Kissinger. Whaddya think?