Mel Gibson you magnificent bastard!

Rating: 9/10 (2 March 2008)

That was great! It's so refreshing to see a genuine portrayal of medieval life without the sugar coating given by other low budget film's that mislead the viewer into thinking that people back then had more of a sense of honor and duty than they do now. This film gets a lot of unnecessary flack from people due to it's violent content, but THATS HOW LIFE WAS BACK THEN! Mel exposes this in a expert and dynamic way. As a director Mel Gibson is nothing shorter then amazing. During the battles you feel as though this is a first hand documentary account dropped on a real life battle. And it's real! There is no CGI. That big army was made up of thousands of extras. It wasn't a cartoon with digital effects running rampant. It's genuine. When it's raining that's not a rain machine. Mel was wise enough to recognize that it would be better to shoot the scene's in the rain if and when it did rain, to give it that authentic look. If the characters were mint clean in ever shot like Orlando Bloom was in The Lord of The Rings that would have looked phony. Mel pulls very few punches except in the scene of William Wallaces execution that doesn't even show the disembowelment. A show of restraint by Mel. However at one point there is hardly even one scene that can go without someone getting killed. In one of those scene's the English kings throws an unsuspecting man out a window just for simply showing confidence, and submitting his advice. There have been few movies I've seen recently where I truly despised a character and was routing for them to get their punishment but BraveHeart does just that in creating a truly despicable character in the British king. The king would later die a much simpler death than the ones he gave other people. Back then if you were a sociopath with power you got away with murder. The royalty had little respect for the life of people they found inferior. The peasants were mere pawns to them. There is one moving scene in which a prince in a moment of self realization is brought to tears by his past actions, in which he tells his father; "Those men who fight for me, fight cause if they don't I'll starve their wives, and burn their homes." (That quote may not be exact.) After which he boldly states; "I will not be on the wrong side again!", choosing a soul over depravity. This was not a wicked film drunk on blood and gore, it had a true heart, but there are still people who refuse to see that. There are already plenty of watered down swordfests for you squeamish types stinking up video stores like The Golden Compass or Lord of The Rings. However if you want to see something genuine watch this you'll be amazed.
(And to all those people who keep voting down this review... F**K YOU!)