Stars: Mel Gibson, Sophie Marceau, Patrick McGoohan, Catherine McCormack

Director: Mel Gibson

Summary: William Wallace sets out to avenge the deaths of his Scottish relatives by raising an army and taking on the might of the English.

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Mel Gibson's birth-of-a-nation epic Braveheartdoes for England what Spartacusdid for Rome: every Englishman in this film is weak or nasty or a fool, or all three. Gibson plays William Wallace, the highland warrior whose fierce fighting spirit prompted Robert the Bruce's memorable victory over the English at Bannockburn. The film opens with boy Wallace losing his father and brother to the murdering English. Gibson's over-age Wallace then indulges in an unintentionally risible spot of teenage romance with the chaste Murron (Catherine McCormack), who is promptly despatched by yet another wicked Englishman. Gibson swings into action in some truly impressive (and horribly gory) fight scenes, culminating in the battles of Stirling and Falkirk.

When not separating English body parts, Gibson finds time for a clandestine romance with Isabelle, the Princess of Wales (Sophie Marceau), whom he manages to impregnate, thereby ensuring that the current British monarchy are all descended from him and not from William the Conqueror as they might heretofore have supposed. He trounces the weak and venial English at every turn, causing England's nasty Edward I (Patrick McGoohan) to cough and splutter a lot. Only treachery by the Scotch nobility (lowlanders to a man) stops Wallace's triumphant crusade. His final apotheosis, complete with pre-Passion of the Christcrucifixion imagery, posits Wallace as the redeemer of his country's lost independence.

The set-piece battles are a feast for the senses: a combination of the scale of Spartacuswith the mud of Branagh's Henry V. But the continual use of slow motion in tandem with the gorgeous scenic backdrops and James Horner's cloying "folksy" music score of indeterminate national origin, enhances the feeling that this is a slick promo for the Scottish tourist board (ironic, perhaps, that much of it was shot in Ireland). Gibson and his Caledonian costars give the impression that a good time was had by all. --Mark Walker

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	1995
Release Date:	October 3, 2005
Runtime:	180 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	0890801021
Keywords:	Action, Book, Films, General, Historical, Adventure, Braveheart, Halliwell's
Genre:	Action/Adventure