Tuesday, April 24, 2012

They May Take Our Lives But They Will Never Take Our OSCARS!!! “Braveheart” Review


What an emotionally charged film! “Braveheart” goes beyond the Hollywood warrior movie and brings us a tale about the pursuit for love, happiness, and freedom.  Mel Gibson, who starred in this film and directed it, is responsible for making people around the world see that sometimes liberty is more important than life.

                William Wallace is a Scotsman who leads a small army of Scots to rebel against the English. He is motivated by more than just frustration over England but for personal reasons as well. It takes some time for the battles to take place in order to establish character in the beginning but the battle scenes themselves are worth the wait.

                Mel Gibson does a splendid job both directing and acting in this movie while the rest of the cast doesn’t disappoint either. The music is probably one of the best elements of the film as Scottish history is the best breeding ground for the ideas of James Horner’s Celtic influences. Bagpipes and synthesizers go together quite nicely and the result is something so good that if you didn’t like the film you could close your eyes and just listen to the music and would not regret the experience.

                The one thing “Braveheart” looses points on is pacing. Watching the movie is like being on a rollercoaster; there are slow parts but when it accelerates it is worth it. Every battle scene is great and emotional because it is not simply a war film but a film about how in battle it is not the numbers that matter but the spirit of the soldiers (Sorry “300” but “Braveheart” did it first).

                As some of you may know, this film won Academy awards for Best-Picture, Best Director, Best-Cinematography, Best-Sound Editing, and Best-Makeup. It stands as one of the handful of films to win the Best-Director Academy award without also wining the equivalent Directors Guild of America award; that year it went to Ron Howard for “Apollo 13”. I guess the Academy realized that this film is more emotional than you would expect.


8/10


But what about you? What is your favorite epic warrior movie? Click here to cast your vote.

2 comments:

  1. I love this flick and definitely think it deserved all of the Oscars it got. May run a little too long but it still kept me watching and riveted. Good review Mike.

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    1. Thanks! I agree it did run a bit too long but it was a very good time to watch.

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