I would agree that it's overrated, but much moreso than Gladiator, which I actually don't think was. Anyway, I got a little bored with this film, but it has been a while since I've seen it, so maybe it deserves another viewing.

It's fairly manipulative, it paints its characters with extremely broad strokes, and its narrative is archetypal at best and formulaic at worst, but I think all that mostly works for the film, instead of against it. It's not a biopic, it's not a historical drama, and it's not a realistic epic; it's merely a romanticized account of one man's life. I'm not sure if this was Gibson's intention, or if he's even aware of it, but it's there, nonetheless. The screenplay is based not on historical documents or even stories passed down through the ages, but on an ancient poem. That, more than anything, should tell you how to interpret this film. It gets a lot of backlash for being simplistic and romantic, but I think that's what it's supposed to be. Plus it's a rousing good yarn. Probably not Best Picture worthy, but not terrible, either.

The soundtrack for this film is AMAZING.

It is a historical fantasy but it is a great film.

A

it's...okay.

not even nearly as cool as far as action and battles go as any of the historical epics of today, and the story surrounding the film never interested me much. it was well-made and all, but is definitely one of the weaker BP winners out there.

B-

Sure the battles in Troy and Alexander and Kingdom of Heaven were cool but they had shitty acting. fr

The battles in Braveheart are still one of the best ever made, imo.

I used to love Braveheart. For a time it probably was one of my favorite movies even. And I still like it. I try to watch it once every year. It sort of serves to measure up my perceptions on the movie and how they've changed. It's still epic, it's still full of great battles and everything's in place, but I don't quite react to the ending as I used to. I'll have to see it again next year and see what's what.

But as it stands, Braveheart's good enough. Get's a B from me.

Love this movie, and Gibson was good as the lead. Very dramatic with great ction sequences and an exhilerating and saddening ending.
A/A+

Braveheart

So I watched this again a few days ago and it's such a brilliant film. Mel Gibson gives a great performance and the cinematography and director's eye (again belonging to Mel) is just so inspiring. Great story, great execution. Something for both men and women. While I don't think it should have won Best Picture in 1995, I'm happy that it did.

A

What should have won? It's a shame Gibson wasn't even in consideration for Best Actor.

I watched it two days ago and dear god, this movie is fucking perfect.

It was a great year for Best Picture nominees - - I think Braveheart deserved the win, but I would also have been happy to see Babe, Apollo 13, or Sense and Sensibility win. What a contrast to the shit we've seen nominated this millennium.

Not up to Best Picture standards, but it's still pretty solid. The production values are impeccable, the story is fairly rousing (even though it's way too long at nearly three hours), and not even a noticeably faulty accent hampers some of the best work that Mel Gibson ever did in front of a camera. And although this isn't saying a whole lot (given the small sample size), it's also Gibson's best film behind the camera.

B+

I saw it for the first time all the way through almost exactly four years ago, which was a few months before the true degree of Gibson's insanity became public record. I feel bad for anyone who tries to discover the guy's work amid the awful reputation he's had since 2010.

Heat.

Epic film, still. I probably didn't see it for over 15 years and it was a nice experience all over again. When I first compiled my all time list in the early 2000's I had this as my second favorite film, now upon review and many other film watches I'm down ranking it a bit, but it's still very much a top 10 film of mine.
The strongest part of it, is just the emotional journey Wallace takes me on and the characters are just so strongly characteristic that it makes it all the more dramatic and the acting is just fantastic. It's a little piece of British history just beautifully brought to the screen by Gibson, excellent both behind and in front of the camera. Gleeson and Macfadyen are great in supporting roles and Marceau is just gorgeous and effective too. The score largely consisting of bagpipe music is very impactful and makes me just feel it on the skin. A very well scaled film with great battle sword battle scenes as well. '95 might possibly be the best year in film for me.

A+