An epic to some, boredom to me

Rating: 4/10 (15 December 2015)

"Braveheart" is a 3-hour movie from 20 years ago that won Mel Gibson Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director. I will not deny that this film has some solid moments, but as a whole it was not even close to being enough for such a long film. Visually, it was fine for the most part, but this film is great evidence of how seeing something good is not equal to feeling something good. The story was not particularly interesting, but maybe the reason is also that this era in history was never among my favorite ones. It is as usual all about great writing and despite the Screenplay Oscar nomination, this film does not have it. You could certainly say that it is fairly difficult to make a script that keeps one interested into a film of almost 180 minutes, but they took the challenge and they came short.
On a more positive note, Mel Gibson proves in here once again that he is as good of an actor as he is a filmmaker. His performance was probably my favorite aspect of the very few good qualities in here. The Scottish sceneries were worth a watch too as were the costumes. However, this makes it pretty much style over substance. Not among Mel Gibson's best works overall and it's a bit ironic that this was the biggest success of his career. What maybe disappoints me the most is that I quite like Pat McGoohan and him playing the main evil guy is something that sounds awesome in theory. Still, I could not warm up to this one. Certainly a contender for my least favorite Best Picture Academy Award winner. Not recommended.