The Worst
6. The Patriot (2000)
Columbia PicturesMaster of disaster Roland Emmerich stepped out of his city-destroying wheelhouse to direct this $110m Revolutionary War epic, which despite featuring some spectacular scenes of combat and a strong performance from Mel Gibson all-too-often descends into nauseatingly jingoistic over-sentimentality, with the results more insipid than inspiring. In typically charismatic fashion, Gibson brings both physicality and emotion to the character of a man that is both a father and a fighter, and its surely no coincidence that the weakest parts of the movie are when he isn't onscreen. The Patriot suffers from the same problems as most of Roland Emmerich's output; two-dimensional characters, archetypal villains, on-the-nose melodramatics and a bloated running time, but as per usual the director acquits himself well when it comes to the action. Not an awful movie by any stretch of the imagination, just a disappointing one.