Rating of
2.5/4
Review - Braveheart (1995)
Delorted - wrote on 10/25/07
In Scotland during the thirteenth century, a man named William Wallace (Bruce Willis) led an assault against the British Army for defying the rights of his people. He has gone down in history as the leader of the Wars of Scottish Independence, and his doings have been documented in the Best Picture winning film, "Braveheart."
Gibson directed himself to a merely good performance, which does not differ from every other film he has been in. Catherine McCormack gives a very brief but well done performance as Murron, Wallace’s wife. The rest of the cast gives an average performance, including Patrick McGoohan as King Edward I and Angus Macfadyen in probably the best performance as Robert the Bruce.
The writing seems to gradually progress throughout the film. It starts off rather slow, taking an entire hour to set up what could have taken thirty minutes. The love story between Wallace and his wife seems to linger for a while, then abruptly end for most of the picture. Though it does sprout up a bit later, it seems out of place and only allowed in for sympathy. Other than that and the fact that the film is remarkably inaccurate historically, it’s not that bad.
At a 177 minute runtime, this film is a bit long to say the least. I normally wouldn’t mind this, but there were so many moments that seem unnecessarily in slow-motion that the film could have been shortened a good five or ten minutes leaving them out or not stretching them out. A lot of the violence, which seemed a bit over-the-top for such a film, was not made very believable, while some was just plain ridiculous. The last shot of the film will either have you bawling or snickering, depending on how you felt about the film.
One thing I did particularly enjoy was the score. It has a quaint Scottish sound to it, mostly bagpipe. It definitely set a nice mood for the film that worked really well.
I may sound like I’m calling this film bad, but I do respect the film’s influence on cinema greatly. Without it, we might never have had Gladiator or possibly even 300.
Acting: 7/10
Writing: 4/10
Video/Editing: 7/10
Audio/Music: 8/10
Entertainment: 5/10
Final Score: 6.2/10
