The Patriot

Steven Seagal tackles a rebel militia group and a fatal virus in scenic Montana

A holistic doctor in the town of Ennis (Seagal) seeks to find a cure to a deadly disease unleashed by an unhinged paramilitary leader (Gailard Sartain). Meanwhile, a Federal biological response team seals off the area.

"The Patriot” (1998) smacks of a Western-in-the-modern-day, just meshed with elements of “Outbreak” from 3 years earlier. It’s no where near as compelling as that movie (which had twice the budget), but there’s quite a bit to appreciate, like the southwest Montana locations, the commentary on lethal viruses, the expected action sequences and the focus on medicinal plants & traditional medicine over popping pills, not to mention dubious vaccines.

Since Seagal is a Conservative who readily exposed the LIEberal “Russian Collusion” propaganda, I wouldn’t take the militia side plot as a demonization of militias or Conservatives. Seagal’s character in the story makes it clear that even a generally positive group of people can be tainted by a wacko leader and misled. The script simply needed a villain and, since there’s no ANTIFA-like groups in small town Montana, the writers opted for the easy target of a militia organization.

There’s a siege at the beginning reminiscent of the 51-day Waco siege in 1993, which involved the FBI & ATF’s controversial handling of the Branch Davidian compound. McVeigh had visited Waco during that siege and later described the Fed fiasco as a major factor in his radicalization. I’m sure Gailard Sartain’s character in the story, Floyd Chisolm, was modeled after someone like McVeigh.

This marked the beginning of Seagal’s second decade as a lead actor (he starred in ten movies in the previous ten years, 1988-1997, not including his cameo in “My Giant”). The $25 million budget is quite less than the $60 million it cost to make “Under Siege 2,” but it’s way more than his more recent direct-to-video flicks, which cost $5-6 million or less. Yet $25 million is more than enough to make a competent picture, keeping in mind that his most famous film, “Under Siege,” only cost $5 million more than that.

It runs 1 hour, 30 minutes, and was shot in Ennis, Montana, as well as nearby Bozeman, which is an hour’s drive to the northwest.

GRADE: B-