Average film, nothing spectacular...

Rating: Null/10 (21 October 2002)

This film does not do the story of William Wallace justice.
Yes, everyone always says that it does not matter that the film wasn't fully accurate in Historical terms, but I feel it was not adequate enough to make this a very good and enjoyable film, amongst other weak points.
Firstly, I don't feel the acting was good enough to carry `Braveheart' along. Mel Gibson's portrayal of William Wallace was not, in my humble opinion, good enough. Firstly, he cannot do a convincing Scottish accent. I thought his accent was awful. His attempts at a decent Scottish accent made me cringe throughout the film, and often distracted me from what was going on. That said, I do not have problems with a non-Scot playing a Scot, I just think Gibson was the wrong choice for many reasons. I think he put a lot of effort into playing this role, but the effort does not pay off. However, some acting from the supporting cast is good, notably from Patrick McGoohan (Longshanks), and Catherine McCormack (Murron) {who did pull off a good Scottish accent!}.
Secondly, like I mentioned above, I feel the storyline was too historically inaccurate. I wouldn't have minded if the film was slightly inaccurate, but this is just a joke.
That said, the film does have some strong points. The scenery is wonderful. Note, I believe the film was shot mainly in Ireland, so it is Irish scenery, not Scottish scenery, but I believe the two are similar, anyway. The battle scenes are well shot, also. I think Mel Gibson's directing was better than his acting.
Therefore, I believe this is an average film. It does have it's good points, but these are weighed out by it's many weak spots.
Please note, the whole William Wallace era was BEFORE Scotland and England were UNIFIED as Great Britain. Therefore, these were battles between Scotland and ENGLAND, NOT Scotland and Britain! Britain didn't exist in this point of time! Also, in the modern day, Britain, or England, does NOT rule Scotland - they are UNITED in the British Union. I just wanted to make that clear. *Wink*.
In conclusion, I rate this film 4/10.