The Patriot Cast: Jason Isaacs

In The Patriot
Jason Isaacs does an excellent job of taking what is largely a two-dimensional villain in Colonel William Tavington and gives the character some limited depth. After a ruthless entrance establishing his ruthless, almost cartoon villainy with sneering pure evil, Isaacs works to humanize the character. In a scene with General Charles Cornwallis where he is taken down several pegs, Isaacs shows the desperation behind Tavington's ruthlessness because of his tenuous social standing. At that moment Tavington becomes vulnerable without losing his hard edge. Some other humanizing scenes were filmed, but were cut by Director Roland Emmerich to make Tavington less sympathetic. Demonstrations of Tavington's wit are also minimized.

While most villains either become unbelievable and are undermined by such humanizing scenes, or those scenes fall completely flat because of the actors' portrayal, Isaacs carries off the scenes well and even earns the character some pity. Even after the character forsakes any pity from the audience by choosing the most ruthless and terrible methods in his attempts to capture Benjamin Martin, Isaacs still succeeds in reminding the audience of Tavington's all-or-nothing position even until the end.

Tavington needs total victory, because he has nothing to go home to and the war is his only chance for glory. Isaacs takes this British officer who has abandoned honor out of desperation and managed to give him a dignity. He does all this without sacraficing the character. Even though the audience understands his motivations, it is extremely satifying to see Tavington receive his just desserts at Benjamin Martin's hand. Isaacs himself researched Banastre Tarleton, the inspiration for Tavington is based, through the Internet.

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