The Countdown: Mel Gibson

The countdown counts down the top 5 of a random topic I deem important enough to talk about at that certain time. Today it is the top 5 Mel Gibson movies as decided by me. Before he drunkenly slurred racial slurs (pun intended!) he actually made some solid movies. I will only count movies he acted in.

5. The Patriot

The Patriot was one of Mel Gibson's movies during his streak of trying to act in a war movie in every time period possible. The movie is American propaganda to an extreme degree. In case you missed it let me sum up the plot: Americans are great, noble people who never owned slaves while the British or horrible, disgusting people who take great pride in war crimes and atrocities. Yup, that is pretty much it. The movie is also historically inaccurate which would matter if it was trying to be an educational movie. Bottom line the movie is good, has good action, good acting and it involves Americans kicking British ass! It makes my top five because I do enjoy it.
Grade: B
Best Quote: "I have long feared that my sins would return to visit me, and the cost would be more than I could bear." - Benjamin Martin (Mel Gibson's character)

4. Signs

You either love or hate Signs, there is no middle ground. I have never seen another movie with such a wide disparity in the reviews as this one. Signs is one of my favorite horror/suspense movies. I think the tone is set right from the beginning when Mel is awoken by his daughter's screaming and when he goes to investigate the movie is dead silent. No cheesy, suspenseful background music, just dead silence. Nothing is scarier then dead silence. The movie is well acted, has a good story and a few good scenes of humor to break up the suspense. A lot of people say the movie was ruined when they showed the alien, but I do not believe so. Not all aliens should be little green men with big heads and bug eyes. If they had not shown the alien, you would have been pissed!
Grade: A
Best Scene: When we see the home video of a kid's birthday party and all the kids are screaming in horror, then for a split second we see the alien (for the first time) walk into and out of the frame. That made me jump in the theater, good stuff.

3. Lethal Weapon Series

Riggs! If you say buddy cop the first thing I think of is Riggs and Murtaugh. The 1st one was the best, and I liked the 3rd one the least but they were all pretty good. The funny thing is Murtaugh was close to retirement in the 1st one, yet made three more movies! Joe Pesci comes along in the 2nd one to give us some awesome comedic relief. The 2nd one also introduced the illiterate masses (such as me) to diplomatic immunity. The 4th one is pretty cheesy and overall not that good, but still enjoyable. Plus it introduced the world to Jet Li. Now I have a question for you to ponder, who would win in a fight between Riggs and John McClain (Bruce Willis' character from Die Hard)? That sounds like a whole other blog post.
Grade: 1: A-, 2: B+, 3: (dont remember or care) 4: C+
Cheesiest Scene: In the 4th one where Riggs just got done fighting Jet Li and is stuck under water and Murtaugh does not know where he is and yells out "Will me Riggs!" then dives into the water and swims to exactly where Riggs was. Wait, that is an awesome scene!

2. Maverick

Is there a more lovable, sleazy, card shark in film history then Brett Maverick? I think this movie is hilarious, and is Mel Gibson's best comedy performance. The characters are great too: Jodi Foster as Annabelle Bransford (she and Mel had great chemistry in this one), James Garner as Marshal Zane Cooper and Graham Greene as Joseph, the most unbelievable Native American in film history. Not only does this movie deliver on comedy and action, but it also fills the poker fix and old west fix! What a movie. If you have not quoted every line from the final table in this movie during your own poker nights with your friends, you are severely lacking in awesomeness.
Grade: A
Best Quote: "I have two small pair . . . 8's over 8's" - The Commodore

1. Braveheart

This is my favorite movie of all time. It is long, but never drags. The acting is great, the musical score is great and the ending is great. This movie is just plain great! It even won an academy award for best picture for its efforts. I get hooked from the very beginning, seeing the endless miles of green grass and the bagpipes blaring (God Bless Scotland!) If you didn't get sick to your stomach when Robert the Bruce double crossed William Wallace on the battlefield, you suck. If you weren't pissed when they slit Wallace's wife's throat, you have no compassion. If you didn't get goosebumps during Wallace's "freedom" speech, there is something wrong with you. If you weren't moved by Wallace yelling freedom instead of begging for mercy during his torture, you just might not be human. Great overall movie.
Grade: A+++
Best Scene: