Gibson, long-time heartthrob of the silver screen, came into his own as a director with Braveheart.

Rating: 8/10 (9 July 2010)

The film is at its best an exhilarating Highland fling. Scottish rebel William Wallace (Mel Gibson) rallies an army of various clans against English king Edward I (Patrick McGoohan).
Braveheart is a historically questionable account of Wallace's life and death with a hackneyed script. But it undoubtedly makes for stirring widescreen cinema, heading off Hollywood glamour with a mixture of mud, blood and guts. The film won five Academy Awards at the 68th Academy Awards, including the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director, and had been nominated for an additional five. The film's depiction of the Battle of Stirling Bridge is often considered one of the greatest movie battles in cinema history.