Braveheart

Directed by Mel Gibson, Braveheart follows William Wallace (Gibson) as he launches a violent rebellion to free Scotland from the tyranny of Patrick McGoohan’s malevolent King Longshanks. Filmmaker Gibson, working from Randall Wallace’s screenplay, does an effective job of immediately drawing the viewer into the unabashedly epic proceedings, as Braveheart, armed with John Toll’s sweeping cinematography and James Horner’s larger-than-life score, boasts a frequently captivating opening stretch that effectively establishes the compelling, sympathetic protagonist and his seemingly insurmountable task – with Gibson’s hypnotic and completely engaging performance heightening the often spellbinding atmosphere. It’s clear, as well, that Braveheart benefits quite substantially from the inclusion of several exceedingly violent (yet totally engrossing) battle sequences, while the superb efforts of an eclectic supporting cast, which includes Brendan Gleeson and Sophie Marceau, ensures that the picture’s quieter moments fare just as well – although, by that same token, there’s little doubt that the excessive running time does pave the way for a handful of lulls within the sporadically overstuffed narrative. (The ongoing emphasis on Robert the Bruce’s somewhat tedious exploits, for example, compounds the movie’s periodically erratic feel, and one can’t help but wish Wallace’s script had been streamlined to a fair degree.) Such complaints are effectively rendered moot by the film’s entirely mesmerizing (and unexpectedly moving) climactic stretch, which ultimately cements Braveheart‘s place as a top-tier historical drama that mostly packs an impressively potent punch.

***1/2 out of ****