Braveheart

Rating:
Summary: Fighting against tyranny for freedom.
Review: The government is taking over Scotland, or trying to, namely by exercising sexual rites to women on their wedding. Naturally, the Scots fight back and that's what the movie is all about: fighting against tyranny for freedom.

Reminding me of "The Patriot" and "We Were Soldiers," Mel Gibson plays the role of a man who leads the rebellion against tyranny. As in The Patriot, he and his men triumph against a stronger force through perseverance, hard work, determination, and brilliant tactics. The turning point of Braveheart, though, is that he eventually gets captured. They demand that he renounce his treason and declare allegiance to the king. Of course he won't. So they torture him publicly. They hang him for a few minutes, have his arms and legs tied up and nearly pulled apart by a horse on the end of the rope. When he finally catches his breath to say something, instead of swearing allegiance to the king and asking forgiveness, he yells, "FREEEEEEDOOMMMM!!!!!" Then, they chop off his head.

As he said earlier, "Every man dies, but not every man truly lives," there are some things more important than oneself and even one's life. "We all have to die eventually, it's only a matter of when, where, and how," a paraphrase of another statement of his. He gave his life to a higher cause.

A possible reason he decided to dedicate his life to this cause was because they beheaded his wife since he married her secretly to avoid having her raped on their wedding. Ironically, he later develops a close and trusting relationship to the Princess of the opposing country.

The torture they gave him reminded me of the book, "1984." In this book, the ruling Party is much more effective with political prisoners. They are deprived of food, water, sleep, and even basic knowledge such as what time of day it is or what became of their friends and family. They are weakened and broken down, totally controlled by their captors. A needle in their arm determines when they sleep. In their cells, they are permitted no conversation or even movement. Once they are weakened and broken down enough, they are questioned relentlessly about crimes they didn't commit. So thorough are these brain washing sessions that they eventually believe and admit to crimes they never committed. The Party "cleans" their minds and eventually makes them LOVE their captors, beleiving them to be their saviors from the gross crimes they committed. The Party allows no martyrs, because the prisoners minds are wiped clean of rebellion and even memory of it. The memory of the prisoners is wiped out as well. This process makes it impossible to have any meaning in suffering against the the Party. In Braveheart, the theme of the movie is that life can have great meaning despite great suffering.

Rating:
Summary: Mel Gibson at his finest
Review: I've never been a HUGE fan of Mel Gibson's...oh, he's pretty good in the Lethal Weapon movies, a bit crazy of course..and I liked him in Conspiracy Theory although the movie wasn't the best of all I've seen...but THIS movie, this movie is beyond comparison to anything I've ever seen him in..now I have a real sense of Mel Gibson as an actor, a director and an entertainer of the finest caliber.

Braveheart is a war film; it echos the likes of huge war epics like Saving Private Ryan, the mass of people fighting in ancient times like Gladiator; but way before Russell Crowe put on his skirt Mel Gibson took the chance of donning a kilt in freezing Scotland weather to give movie-going audiences a heartfelt tale of a brave Scottish commoner that literally led Scotland to its freedom from the tyranny of Britain's king in the 13 century. There's lots of blood and guts, horses being stabbed and people being beheaded and crushed, but none of it bothered me so much...Gibson managed to keep the visuals exciting without lingering too long (fractions of second on the real horrible parts) on the carnage. He also managed to suck me into characters (not to mention his great legs) that kept me going for the entire 3 hours and to want to actually be a part of the freedom fighters by the middle of the show. The music is beautiful, the scenery breathtaking and Mel's accent better than acceptable..don't miss this great movie...It's a must see!

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Summary: Engrossing!
Review: What a fantastic movie! The scenery in this movie was fabulous. The battle scenes were very realistic for the time frame, even sometimes to the point of shock. If you don't like violence you will probably have to leave the room during these scenes. But they help set the harsh world in which William Wallace lived. While this movie is not historically correct it is an interesting period piece. And a wonderful love story. For those that say a man can not love as deep as a woman, this love story seems to beg to differ. There is something for both "him and her" in this movie and you can watch with your spouse or friend.

The movie was long but time passed quickly. The story surrounds you from the very beginning and never lets you out until the very end. There are all kinds of heros and villans, damsels in distress, warriors, kings and tyrants throughout this movie. The soundtrack was very good (I bought it on CD) and enhanced the overall effect of the movie. The story, the excellent acting, the battle scenes, the soundtrack, the plot. All lead to create a movie that stands head and shoulders above most recent ventures of any type.

Buy it or rent it but absolutely you should see it.

Rating:
Summary: Just Super!
Review: Great movie, easily in the category of the cast-of-thousands greats from thirty or forty years ago. Was William Wallace really a bigger hero than Robert the Bruce? Beats me, I wasn't there and neither were any of Wallace's (or Mel's) current gaggle of detractors. One thing is clear, the Bruce's historians were more practiced, better connected and doubtless, higher-born. All of which makes it all the more remarkable that we know anything about William Wallace at all.

Mel Gibson's acting is superb. And the scenery is breathtaking. Sure there are some flights of fancy here and there, in part because Wallace's legend was passed down by itinerate entertainers for many years, rather than being diligently recorded by court chroniclers like the highborn or royalty - who of course had their own story to tell. Oh, well... Brave Heart probably fits closer to the historical novel category, than a pure old documentary. Documentaries often seem compelled to leave out much of what cannot be proven, unless it serves some contemporary expediency. Thankfully Brave Heart doesn't fall prey to this pedagogical frailty and is entertaining from start to finish - I suspect that's what Mr. Gibson had in mind all along. And he told a wonderful story in the process.

Yes, I wish it ended differently; Yes, I was angry at the betrayal, Yes I rejoiced in the victories; Yes it's probably a little too graphic for the tie-dyed crowd and yes, I've watched it several times. Great, great flick, well deserving of all its accolades.

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Summary: I was Celtic before Celtic was cool
Review: As a man of Celtic decent I have always had a passionate love for anything Scottish. Although my family Kilt is about the ugliest thing around I do keep as much to do with my heritage as possible around. And this movie is a part of that heritage, sort of. Well, not the movie itself, but the subject matter. Some of the battles took place in Sterling, and Sterling has a lot of history for my family, a dark and sinsiter history to be sure, and one that would make a great movie in and of itself. So because this movie was filmed on location my dad broke the traditional LDS ban on R-Rated movies when I was a kid (a ban that I do not place on myself now that I'm living on my own) to let us see this movie. According to our genology we had relatives that were actively involved with the epic battle this movie is based upon.
The movie is perhaps one of the finest movies ever created, deep, passonate, and intense.. albiet fictionalized. (I doubt that William Wallace actually got the princess pregnate, and while I'm no expert I don't think they even actually met. The story revolves around the Brittish opression of the Scottish people, and one mans very personal battle to rid Scottland of Brittish influence forever. The acting in this film as superb, and the cinematography is sweeping. The battles are realistically bloody and give one a realistic glips into the horrors of midevel warfare, and the reason that fedual systems of government are a bad idea. But the real reason to buy this movie is how deeply passionate the movie really is. The filmmakers really cared about this story, and put thier hearts and souls into it and it shows. If more movies had this kind of love put into the projects, if cinematographers would love the projects as much as these guys did, the cinematography, acting, score, and attention to detail, then Holywood would not be swimming in the sea of franchise cash cows and mediocrity that it is swimming in now. This movie defines epic and Rated R or not, should be seen by people of all ages. This is a part of history, and a story that everyone should know.

Rating:
Summary: Forget the Nay-sayers
Review: Everyone who gives this movie a low rating does so for one primary reason, usually in CAPITAL LETTERS: it's not historically accurate. To this, there can really be only one answer: who cares? This is cinema, not documentary, and fiction has always played fast and loose with history. Hell, even history has more often than not played fast and loose with history. We will here about the historical inaccuracies, and rightly so, but they should not be couched in terms of stinging derision. I personally liked the film a lot. It's an action film, a buddy film. Stephen is my favorite character because he, not William as one reviewer would have it, is completely insane and homicidal, not to mention Irish (redundant, I know. :) Bottom line, if you want an action drama with historical flavor, then this movie is for you. If you want straight up history, then no movie is for you, period.

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Summary: One of the best movies of all time!
Review: Where can I begin. This movie offers everything. Romance, action and great battle scenes. The music and scenery are breathtaking. There is nothing more I can say, simply one of the best movies of all time.

Rating:
Summary: Gibson is under-rated to the extreme.
Review: Even though Mel Gibson won Oscars for his work, I still believe that there should have been more hype about Braveheart. Braveheart will draw more emotions out of you then any other movie. Pushing the limits of courage and loyalty are a priority of the peasent General William Wallace (Gibson).

In the period of English domination and suppresion of Scotland, a small militia was formed and headed by William Wallace. Wallace and troops were able to crush the forces in Scotland and continue the battling by invading England. The only communication that Wallace had with the dictoral King Longshanks was through his daughter-in-law (Marceau). Marceau falls for Wallace though before she even meets with him and quickly becomes disloyal to the king. The rest will unravel for interested viewers in the movie.

Braveheart is not for young viewers or viewers who can not tolerate all out gore scenes. Lined with witty comedy and a passionate love, Braveheart touches on each of the hearts feelings. One feeling however is much stronger than others and that is loyalty. Braveheart strains the human heart as one of the most courageous performances ever put on by a man is played in Braveheart.

Rating:
Summary: Everything a Film Can Be
Review: Braveheart is the culmination of every thing motion pictures are capable of being. There is hope and sadness, love and hate, violence and beauty, action and romance, laughter and tears. All of this it weaves in and out of the story until it all runs together into pure and incandescent magic. From "Icon Pictures" logo to the end of the credits, it is evident from every aspect that this film is just a cut above everything, and it never falters in its grace or passion. Gibson gives the performance of his career, and at the same time directs his first film to sheer brilliance. Wallace's screenplay is inspired stuff, who cares about historical accuracy when this story cuts to the quick of humanity itself. We're dealing with universal truth here, not whether or not a battle was supposed to take place on a bridge. William Wallace, regardless of what was man and what was myth, is reborn here on this film... inspiring the hearts of all who watch it. That is the lesson of this film... undying love, undying courage, and undying hope.

Rating:
Summary: Sir William Wallace lives on...
Review: Although the film is historically inaccurate, it portrayed the main events of Sir Willam Wallace's struggle against King Edward I, Longshanks, i.e, the Battle of Stirling Bridge and the Battle of FalKirk, as well as his execution. Mel Gibson did well in his portrayal of Wallace (he presented a believable image of a Sottish warrior).
Also, the battle scenes are graphic - which add to the impact of the film. It does NOT glorify war and shows that humans shed blood and die. If this was not the first movie to do so, then it was ceratinly one of the first. Since then, realistic battle scenes (e.g. in Saving Private Rayn and Black Hawk Down) have been created.
The film is never boring, even when Wallace is not fighting. The political intrigue and romance in this film are adequate (and well developed for an action film). Well done Mel.