Reviews

Well, it was quite fast moving and filled an hour and a half and I managed to watch it to the end so it can't be as bad as SOME I've seen.

But a class film this was NOT - very predictable, very clichéd, and no real suspense about what the final outcome would be. Totally implausible storyline had about as much tension as a cup of tea and none of the one-dimensional characters were even remotely likable (no, not even the delectable Liam Neeson, who came across as a bit of a bad ass wet fish).

I spent £3.99 on this DVD - £1.99 would have been about right. That's probably what someone will pay for it down the charity shop tomorrow.

Historical accuracy never was Hollywood's forte. However, the story of William Wallace and the Battle of Bannockburn does not need any silly Hollywood romance or face painting to make it into an interesting yarn. If you want to see how a sickening and totally fabricated love story can spoil the potential for epic film-making, then this may be the film for you....

However, if you are a self-respecting Scot with healthy regard for the historical William Wallace and Robert the Bruce, then you'd best give this fanciful tale a wide berth. Or just go along for a good laugh as you sneer at Mel Gibson's "Scottish" accent - he plays William Wallace with a strictly 20th century inner-city Glasgow accent... (poor old Mel, he doesn't know any better, but somewhere there is an accent coach who should have been fired!!!)

Attracted by the hype on the back of the video cover, and by the promise of lots of Louisiana wetland scenery, I settled down for a good night's viewing. Well, what a disappointment. Sure, the scenery was exactly how I recall it to be, but the plot and the characters were two-dimensional and about as unenthralling and deathly as it's possible to get. The Cajun village scenes are almost worth seeing, but you have to endure 90% of the film before you get to that bit... sorry, but it just ain't worth it!

Unlike many, I have not read the book and so I watched this purely as a film in its own right. I'm not especially keen on romance dramas, and I expected this to be a bit slushy and/or operatic so I was rather hesitant about going to see it in the first place...

But I'm glad I did, because it was good. Beautiful, "feel good" scenery and with a light touch of humour that made it rather more endearing than a straight drama would have been. The romance was gentle, inoffensive and sufficiently interwoven with enough "proper" story-telling to keep my interest, and the score was not too obtrusively operatic.

Overall, the film takes a satisfying circular route from start to finish, inducing a range of emotions as it progresses. It's about 2 hours long, but I didn't find myself fidgeting or looking at my watch once - and that's quite a feat for me!! Very enjoyable.

This is what I imagine it set out to be - a light hearted, bubbly bit of cinema froth which gives a few giggles and a lot of footage of Sandra Bullock looking gorgeous. As such, it'll make a good movie on TV in a year or two, but I'm not sure I'd recommend anyone to pay to see it on the big screen.

This film held me spellbound from the very beginning. Excellent cinematography - brilliant use of colour and image - and an offbeat but clever score. I'm not generally a fan of George Clooney, but concede that he was very good in this.

See it on the big screen if you can - as with so many, it just won't have the impact it needs on video.

Special effects junkies may get something out of this film, but I found it long, very boring and totally unmoving. The characters in general were shallow and one-dimensional; none of the main characters were in the slightest bit likeable, and the film's potential was ruined by the extremely silly and totally fabricated central story of the "upstairs/downstairs" romance between Di Caprio and Winslett. This totally implausible bit of the plot succeeds in turning this tale of a terrible human tragedy into just another trite Hollywoodisation in which only beautiful people and thwarted love count for much. Such a shame - given the dreadful, tragic setting (which, let's face it, really did happen), it could have been a good film.......

Noisy, silly, absurd, and not in the least bit funny, this felt like one of the lengthiest films I have seen in a long time! Julia Roberts turns in a wooden performance of an implausible character, while Mel Gibson is just plain irritating. It MIGHT improve with a second viewing - but then again Life's Too Short.....