"Well, we didn't get dressed up for nuthin."
The Film
I was 19 when Braveheart made its theatrical debut in 1995. As it did for so many moviegoers, the film's immense scope and grandeur immediately won me over and I left the theater with a new member of my ever-changing Top Ten Films. While I appreciated the various aspects of the film at age 19, I'd be lying if I didn't admit to being most impressed by the film's visceral and and exhilarating battle sequences. Scottish broad swords, heavy horse cavalry, scores of archers - not since Spartacus had the silver screen delivered battlefield bedlam on so grand a scale.
Over the years I've come to realize what my bloodthirsty teen self failed to fully appreciate: the reason Braveheart works so well and, oh yeah, won Mel Gibson a score of Academy Awards including Best Cinematography (John Toll), Best Director and Best Picture, is because of the magical moments between the mayhem.
Like any good story, you need a villain. Mel Gibson could not have chosen better when he cast Patrick McGoohan as Longshanks, also known as England's King Edward I. I don't know how many times I've heard him say it now, but "The trouble with Scotland... is that it's full of Scots!" just never gets old. Rounding out the cast are Catherine McCormack and Sophie Marceau as Wallace's love interests - both whom display an understated elegance and represent a refreshing departure from the typical leading ladies you'd expect to see in a Hollywood blockbuster such as this. And finally, we have Wallace's compatriots. Chief among them is the scene-stealing pair of Brendan Gleeson (as Wallace's childhood friend Hamish) and David O'Hara (as Stephen, an Irishman who just isn't right... in the head.) These two men provide the bulk of the film's comic relief and the film just wouldn't be the same without them.
The Picture
Wow. Every so often, a Blu-ray catalog title comes along that simply blows you away with its new found beauty. Braveheart is such a title, easily putting to shame its DVD predecessors and creating a new benchmark for catalog transfers on Blu-ray. Every element of the film looks downright gorgeous - from the lush green highlands to the vivid purple of young William's gifted thistle, everything here looks better than new. A natural veneer of film grain remains visible while picture detail and that all-important sense of three-dimensionality are off the charts. Even simple scenes are a delight; during William's "knighting" following the victory at Stirling, a ceiling camera panning across the room reveals a wrought iron chandelier which seems to extend beyond the plane of the screen. This is the stuff high def dreams are made of.
The Sound
Braveheart's new transfer is gorgeous even with the sound off, but combine it with the new, lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack and you have a brand new film on your hands. Nuanced and spacious during the quiet moments and ferociously alive on the battle fields, this new mix is every inch superb. And something tells me the battle at Stirling will be getting a lot of play in the weeks ahead when friends ask me to impress them with something new.
The Extras
Whenever a studio creates a new upscale line or series of discs, it's always interesting to see which films make the cut. For example, Sony and Warner Bros. have steadily been releasing select titles in premium DigiBook packaging (Dr. Strangelove and The Matrix, for example). Disney has their upcoming Diamond Edition, which will make its debut when the House of Mouse brings Snow White to Blu-ray in a few weeks. And now we have Braveheart and Gladiator, the first two titles in Paramount's Sapphire Series of Blu-ray Discs. Based on Braveheart's modest-yet-understated assortment of bonus materials, which includes neither BD Live content nor Digital Copy, it's not immediately evident what the Blu gem stone represents for home video fanatics - but I'm not exactly complaining.
Due to Braveheart's length, Paramount has wisely decided to locate most of the extras on Disc Two. The main attraction is a lengthy making-of documentary entitled Braveheart: A Look Back. Comprised of three parts and using a mixture of standard definition set footage and recent, high definition cast/crew interviews, A Look Back is a fantastic chronicle of Mel Gibson's ambitious undertaking and well worth a look for fans. One cast member who stands out is James Cosmo, who plays father figure "Campbell" in the film. His fond recollections and amusing anecdotes help drive home the sense of family that was established on and off the film's muddy, Scottish set.
Of the remaining featurettes and assorted goodies, my favorite was "Dimensional Battlefields of the Scottish Rebellion," a new interactive look at the various battle sites addressed in the film. Presented as a computer simulation using chess pieces to show who did what and where, this is an interesting and fun way to better understand the battleground maneuvers depicted in the film.
Final Thoughts
Any way you slice it, Mel Gibson's Braveheart is an epic masterwork of modern cinema and deserves to be cherished. Historical inaccuracies aside, the film remains a stirring and poignant tale of one man's ability to rally his countrymen in the bloody battle for Scotland's "FREEEEDOM!"
Paramount could not have chosen a better film with which to kick off their new Sapphire Series of Blu-ray Discs. Sporting pristine high definition video, earth-shaking lossless audio and an understated assortment of HD extras, Braveheart on Blu-ray is a must-own for home theater lovers everywhere.
Product Details
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