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The Patriot






Villainous Brits

The American Revolution flick The Patriot is the latest in Hollywood's burgeoning genre of Brit-bashing films: pictures where we limeys occupy a moral niche somewhere between Satan and Atilla the Hun. Test your knowledge of Tinseltown's anti-English slurs and then you can declare war with a clear conscience

Question 1 Which of these recent Hollywood thrillers does NOT feature an evil British villain?
 
  Mission to Mars
  Mission: Impossible 2
  Rush Hour
  Gone in 60 Seconds
 
Question 2 Which of these recent Hollywood films was damned by one US critic for portraying the English as "cartoonish paragons of evil"?
 
  The Talented Mr Ripley
  Ride With the Devil
  U-571
  The Patriot
 
Question 3 Who does Richard E. Grant play in the Bruce Willis flop Hudson Hawk?
 
  Brian Bounty, a saintly philanthropist who helps a blind man cross the road
  Darwin Mayflower, a cruel master-criminal who wants to steal some famous art works
  Marty Celeste, a wicked venture capitalist who wants to doctor the Dow Jones index
  Cutty Sark, a murderous mercenary who triggers off a war in Central America
 
Question 4 Which of the following films does (or will) NOT feature Gary Oldman at his villainous best?
 
  Hannibal
  True Romance
  Fifth Element
  The X-Men
 
Question 5 Which British celebrity plays the Devil in the forthcoming remake of Bedazzled?
 
  Elizabeth Hurley
  Naomi Campbell
  Tom Jones
  Joely Richardson
 
Question 6 How did Kevin Costner allegedly react to Alan Rickman's barnstorming performance as the villain in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves?
 
  Confusing Rickman's performance with the man himself, he tried to have the actor blacklisted in Hollywood
  He re-edited the film to ensure that Rickman's performance did not upstage his own
  He had Rickman's nose digitally lengthened at post-production so there was no possibility Rickman looked better on screen
  He remarked that "I always wondered why I hated the English, and now I know for sure"
 
Question 7 "Audiences despised me in a very personal way. Even my girlfriend wanted bad things to happen to me". A British actor describing his villainous role in which Hollywood picture?
 
  Kenneth Branagh in Wild Wild West
  Anthony Hopkins in Silence in the Lambs
  Jason Isaacs in The Patriot
  Jeremy Irons as the voice of Scar in The Lion King
 
Question 8 What was the first Hollywood role Welsh actor Rhys Ifans opted for after his success in Notting Hill?
 
  One of the Devil's sons in a comedy opposite Adam Sandler
  A deranged British soldier in a war movie opposite Matt Damon
  A megalomaniac super-villain in an action flick opposite Harrison Ford.
  An aristocratic serial-killer in a thriller opposite Ben Affleck
 
Question 9 The second world war film U-571 was recently criticised by Tony Blair for its crimes against the English. What was the problem?
 
  It depicted the British army as a group of rascist homophobes who would have been nowhere without American intervention.
  It portrayed Winston Churchill (played by Kenneth Branagh) as a genocidal murderer
  It alleged that England conspired with the Nazis over the invasion of Poland
  It credited true-life British code-breaking heroics to a group of American officers
 
Question 10 In which film does Johnny Depp battle the evil powers of Miranda Richardson?
 
  Sleepy Hollow
  Chicken Run
  The Ninth Gate
  The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
 
 


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