The Patriot (1998)

User Rating:

3.7/10   

Director:

Dean Semler

Writers (WGA):

William Heine (novel)
M. Sussman (screen story)

Release Date:

10 July 1998 (Spain)

Genre:

Action | Thriller

Tagline:

Every second counts.

Plot:

A respected doctor must race against time to find a cure for a lethal virus, unleashed by a paramilitary militia leader.

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Montana | Militia | Virus | Immunologist

Cast

Steven Seagal	...	Dr. Wesley McClaren
Gailard Sartain	...	Floyd Chisolm
L.Q. Jones	...	Frank
Silas Weir Mitchell	...	Pogue
Camilla Belle	...	Holly McClaren
Dan Beene	...	Richard Bach
Damon Collazo	...	Lt. Johnson
Whitney Yellow Robe	...	Dr. Ann White Cloud
Brad Leland	...	Big Bob
Molly McClure	...	Molly
Philip Winchester	...	Young Miltiaman
Douglas Sebern	...	Judge Tomkins
Ross Loney	...	Clem
Bernard O'Connor	...	Dr. Tom Hergot
Leonard Mountain Chief	...	Grandpa

MPAA:

Rated R for strong violence and language.

Runtime:

90 min | Argentina:94 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Certification:

Singapore:NC-16 | Philippines:PG-13 | Iceland:16 | Sweden:15 | Finland:K-15 (DVD version) | Netherlands:12 (TV rating) | Netherlands:16 | South Korea:15 | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Finland:K-16 (video premiere) | Germany:18 | Norway:15 (video premiere) | Portugal:M/16 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | UK:18 | USA:R | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Montana, USA

Company:

Touchstone Pictures

Trivia:

Dr Wesley McClaren’s assistant in his clinic is played by Steven Seagal's real-life daughter, Ayako Fujitani.

Goofs:

Continuity: Wesley McClaren breaks the stem off an empty wine glass to defend himself, but in previous shots it was full.

Quotes:

Dr. Wesley McClaren: [to Holly while entering the reception room at the hospital] Get your homework done and if there are any guys in here no flirting. No dating until you are 40.

Soundtrack:

Indian Elixer

Sets the field of immunology back 500 years...

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...