Marvelous and Horrible

Rating: Null/10 (9 November 2000)

Braveheart is marvelous and horrible at the same time. For a historical reenactment, I suggest that you look elsewhere, for Braveheart is not one of those films, but for a romance/action flick without any other value, I would wholeheartedly recommend it. It can be slow and even dragging at times, being that it was originally over 2 1/2 hrs long, but the almost realistic battle scenes do make up for it.
The one thing I didn't like was the one-dimensional characters; setting Wallace as ultimately good and Longshanks as ultimately villainous, etc. Sometimes during the film, Gibson's performance reminds me of a mechanical war-machine, rather than a human who can grow weary of fighting til the untimely end. It doesn't really give any dignity to the English royalty; making them out to be a bunch of spineless cowards, who would rather send their ladies to deal with their enemies, rather than facing them mono-e-mono. The story doesn't really explain why the queen's as fascinated with Wallace as she winds up being; it's almost like she's desperate for some well you know, after being married to a homosexual husband for so long, and dives in at the first moment. Oh and speaking thereof, since Longshanks' son is getting married, wouldn't he have seen the relationship between him and his in-the-closet lover severed before the marriage, instead of letting it go on, until suddenly he gets irritated with him, and flings him out the Castle's window? I think it would only be moral, but then again, what do I know?
Anyhow, in the long run, for entertainment, it's really pretty good. It does flaws; most films do, but I'd make room on my shelf for this one.