Anyone else think Braveheart was over rated?

Post Reply New Topic

I personally think Mel Gibson was much too old to play William Wallace, who was probably only in his late twenties. Gibson's vanity kinda ruined the picture for me. There were some good parts-I liked Patrick Mc Goohan as Longshanks and Sophie Marceau as Isabella-even though historically it was almost impossible for her to have Mel's baby, she was only around 10 and probably still in France during Wallace's rebellion.

Indeed, Gibson's over the top performance ruined it for me just as in The Patriot. Both were good story lines without all the dramatics.

I disagree with the both of you. Gibson's performance was excellent...there was nothing over-the-top about it. "Braveheart" deserves accolades.

I have it on DVD or Blu-ray. I'd never seen it before that but was told by others that it's an awesome movie.
It put me to sleep and I wasn't even tired. I haven't bothered to watch it since.
Another Gibson movie that I have and actually do like is The Patriot.

The Bluray isnt!!

Personally I've watched it many times and I think it is mostly a great movie - could do without Gibson focusing so much on himself and his flaring nostrils, and parts of it are historically or otherwise implausible (especially the princess ending up with Wallace), but its not a documentary, its entertainment, and it is an entertaining film. Some good acting performances as well - the guy playing Longshanks, and Robert The Bruce especially I thought did well. Some not so good - Sophie Marceau to some degree but then again it wasn't all her fault, the script is a bit ridiculous when it comes to her:

Wallace: Why are you helping me?
Princess: Because of the way you are looking at me now.

<cue lovemaking>

Please!

I live 2 miles from the birthplace of William Wallace,so it was always going to be a film that fascinated me. I thought Mel Gibson's performance was fine and he gets marks for a decent Scottish accent (although I'm sure we wouldn't have spoken the same way
in Wallace's day). That's just one of the ways it won't be historically accurate,but that's common in films and I don't think the producers would claim it to be anything more than good entertainment.

In any kind of fiction, I find flawless heroes utterly predictable, and therefore boring. Yawned through Braveheart -- and Gladiator as well, for the same reason.

A movie focusing on Robert the Bruce would be more to my taste. He was torn between two courses of action. That's called "drama."