I finally watched Braveheart on CBC tonight.
I wanted to watch it because I'd heard so many guys raving about it but I honestly didn't like it.
It was way too long, even discounting the commercial breaks and being edited for violence. The historical mistakes I'd heard about, so they seemed to stick out. I saw a guy in the background at the end of a battle scene swinging his sword at an enemy in such a way as to make sure he didn't hurt the guy. And if you hang someone from the neck, I can guarantee they will not be shouting, "Freedom!" for a bloody long time!
I was drawn into the movie right up to the point where Mel Gibson comes in. This (twenty something?) young man gets off his horse with the lines of a forty year old man on his face.
I'm not a big Mel Gibson fan. Aside from The Bounty, I never really liked him in anything, as far as good acting goes. His brogue kept coming and going, too.
Rob Roy was a far superior movie. In Rob Roy, the scenery is used so well that Scotland itself is almost as another character. In Braveheart, far too much of the movie is dark.
Liam Neeson underplayed Rob Roy and made the character real. Mel Gibson overacted his Wallace and like much of the movie, didn't make me care. What happened to Wallace is relied on to make you care about the character. After the death of his wife he shows little emotion for the rest of the movie, aside from anger and rage.