One for the Nats

Rating: Null/10 (11 January 1999)

Just snored my way through this one on TV.
Gibson does everything right, but nothing original. So the battle scenes are quite well choreographed, but don't add anything to what we've seen before. And the editing is very fussy, so we don't get any feel for the sweep of the battlefield (perhaps they couldn't get enough extras...). Can't beat Oliver's Henry V on this one
Performances are quite hammy, though Gibson's Scottish accent is not too bad (unlike McFadyen, who really ought to be able to do a more convincing burr than this). McGoohan, an actor I normally respect, seems to think he's Basil Rathbone.
The torture scenes must have been cut for the TV version, because they weren't particularly harrowing. The photography isn't bad - nice rolling green fields and misty moors - but you expect a bit more than that from an Oscar winner.
Oh, of course, in real life Wallace never got anywhere near York, they didn't paint woad on their faces, Isabelle was only 13 when Wallace died, and Edward I outlived Wallace by a couple of years. Still, it's only a movie, eh?