A let down

Rating: 8/10 (16 July 2000)

8/10. Not as good as "Braveheart." A lot of the battle scenes and backdrops were obviously computer generated/computer enhanced. Contrast this with "Last of the Mohicans" where the battle scenes were much more realistic. Also - I was not that impressed with Mel's performance in this movie. It was inferior to that of Daniel Day-Lewis from "Last of the Mohicans." It was hard to buy into the conflicted image portrayed by Mel - something just did not work for me. Also - the villain in this film was pretty bland and was hard to hate(he was just a bore). Contrast that to the villains in "Braveheart", "Last of the Mohicans", "Rob Roy" where you could really get into disliking the bad guy.
Like the Brits who object I also find myself doubting the whole plot line with the eeeevil Dragoon. More like a vision of WWII and later than a vision from 200 years ago when chivalry was still in fashion.
It was still an entertaining film and worth seeing. But in my opinion there was a lot wrong with it. Perhaps too much time and effort in the special effects and not enough effort on characterization development and story line.