1. Patriot-"Please don't go!"
2. Ransom-"Gimme back my son!"
3. Signs
4. Maverick
5. all were fine
6. all bad
7. no opinion

Overall, I think he does tend to overact, but he can be likeable in a buffoonish sort of way.

Mel Gibson told a joke once, which may be indicative of him as a person (if not an actor) -

RANSOM I also thought was weak -- good trailer, good bad guys, bad movie -- while THE PATRIOT is a movie in which I've rarely laughed so hard in an inappropriate vein (except THE SKULLS, perhaps).

Once again, though, Mel's acting is at least competent in all of these. Though all of these do share one thing in common: they're not overly textured acting gigs on Mel's part, though I did find him believable in RANSOM. He's far better in MAD MAX/ROAD WARRIOR, the LETHALS (except 4, where he's just basically taking a paycheck), CONSPIRACY THEORY and a good dozen others I've neglected to mention. To Mel's credit, I've always felt that when he does take a paycheck, he does so with at least a professionalism that's usually lacking in other actors -- i.e., say...Bruce Willis. When Bruce is having a smirkfest walk-through, it's pretty clear he just doesn't care about the material (THE JACKAL, for instance). Whereas in, say...BIRD ON A WIRE, even, Mel usually gives it his all. And, in the case of LETHAL 1, parts of LETHAL 2, BRAVEHEART and even MAN WITHOUT A FACE, he proves affecting in a credible way that elicited the appropriate emotion in me, if not downright tears (he gets shot up/beat up pretty bad at the end of LETHAL 2 and I remember being pretty thick-throated about his possible death, what the hell was I thinking young and naiive about sequels clearly, and I was watching MAN W/OUT A FACE recently and though the relationship between him and Norstadt is pretty obvious, he brings some nuances to it where others might have simply gone for grouchy bombast of the "HOOHA!" variety.)

I haven't seen most of Maverick or any of Signs, but I didn't find him to be that terrible in The Patriot or Ransom. Perhaps other issues in The Patriot continue to distract me from his poor acting there. I thought he was overacting a bit much in Ransom, but the film is so lame that I don't really care.

I enjoy Man Without a Face quite a bit, but I think that's mostly because it filmed some in and around Rockport, Maine, which neighbors my hometown. I even auditioned to be an extra, but my "shopping in the store" acting skills weren't up to par I guess.