When Braveheart was first released in 1995, the reviews weren’t universally positive, but it was mostly well-received. It swept the Oscars; it was nominated for 10 awards and won five, including Best Picture and Best Director for Mel Gibson, who also stars as Scottish folk hero William Wallace. But in the decades since, the film’s reputation has soured. Now, alongside Crash and Shakespeare in Love, it’s one of the first movies that comes up in discussions of overrated Best Picture winners that didn’t deserve the award. So, how well does Braveheart hold up on its 30th anniversary?
The most notable complaint about Braveheart is its flagrant historical inaccuracy. Half of its Wikipedia page is taken up by an extensive index of everything it gets wrong. Randall Wallace’s screenplay wasn’t based on a true historical account, but rather Blind Harry’s fictionalized 15th-century epic poem The Acts and Deeds of Sir William Wallace, Knight of Elderslie. But some fabricated events in the film don’t appear in historical record or Blind Harry’s poem, like Wallace’s affair with Princess Isabella.
On the DVD commentary, Gibson acknowledged that the movie deviates wildly from accepted historical facts, but also defended those deviations, saying the film’s narrative is more “cinematically compelling” than an accurate account would’ve been. And frankly, that’s a solid defense. Braveheart won’t help anyone boost their grades in a history class, but it will provide three rousing hours of prestige blockbuster entertainment.
Braveheart Brings Ruthless Mad Max-Style Grit To A Classic Hollywood Action Epic

Mel Gibson Picked Up Some Pointers From George Miller & Richard Donner

Braveheart has the grandiose spirit of a swords-and-sandals Hollywood epic, but it’s executed with the vengeful pedal-to-the-metal grit of Mad Max. The violence is messy and gruesome, but the bloodshed is righteous, and it’s all grounded in emotion. Gibson personalizes the Scots’ revolution through the loss of Wallace’s wife. Wallace wants to free his people because they deserve to be free, but the catalyst for his uprising is his English oppressors’ attempted assault and subsequent public execution of the woman he loves. It makes it easy to get behind him, regardless of history or politics.

Braveheart has the grandiose spirit of a swords-and-sandals Hollywood epic, but it’s executed with the vengeful pedal-to-the-metal grit of Mad Max.

Gibson creates a fun juxtaposition between the stuffy, well-behaved English soldiers following time-tested protocols and the uncouth Scots flashing their genitals at their opponents. He positions the Scots as the underdogs; they’re the scrappy Rebel Alliance and the English are the evil Galactic Empire. Braveheart has been met with accusations of Anglophobia, but as a born-and-raised Englishman, I think we deserve to be taken down a peg. The British Empire has been responsible for all kinds of atrocities throughout history, so seeing the Brits get their comeuppance in a brutal cinematic fantasy is akin to watching Django Freeman slaughter American slavers.

Braveheart was Mel Gibson’s second film as director, after 1993’s The Man Without a Face.

From George Miller to Richard Donner, Gibson has worked with some of the all-time greatest action filmmakers throughout his career, and his direction of Braveheart proves he was paying attention. The movie’s battle sequences are relentlessly bloody, with beheadings and dismemberments galore, but also masterfully shot. Gibson and his Oscar-winning cinematographer John Toll capture the chaos of combat without losing any clarity. The film’s depiction of the Battle of Stirling, in particular, stands out as one of cinema’s great battle scenes. The ruthless warfare in the foreground is hauntingly contrasted with the gorgeous blue sky in the background.
Braveheart Isn’t Very Historically Accurate, But It Is Very Entertaining

This Is A Prestige Action Blockbuster Of The Highest Order

Tonally, Braveheart doesn’t quite hold together. There’s a strange disconnect between the saccharin sappiness of its dramatic and romantic scenes, and the unrelenting bloodiness of its action set-pieces. Still, it’s an exhilarating ride full of inspiring monologues, gorgeous cinematography, and jaw-dropping battle sequences — and Gibson’s Scottish accent is, surprisingly, not terrible. Braveheart unwaveringly follows the philosophy of “print the legend,” but that legend is extremely entertaining.

Braveheart

7/10

Release Date

May 24, 1995

Runtime

178 Minutes

Writers

Randall Wallace

Pros & Cons

Braveheart has some of the best battle scenes in cinema history
John Toll’s Oscar-winning cinematography is breathtaking

The factual inaccuracies make for an entertaining story, but a useless historical account
There’s a tonal disconnect between sappy romantic scenes and blood-drenched action sequences