"…A Cun-Three Of Hour Owen!"
Re-watching 1995's "Braveheart" on a 2009 BLU RAY - you're struck by several things...
The downsides - Mel Gibson's truly awful mime of a Scottish accent (title above)...his ludicrous hair and wigs...and it just goes on for too long.
Upsides - Mel was also the most handsome man on the planet at the time of filming, Patrick McGoohan was chillingly brilliant as Longshanks The King, it had loads of tremendous support actors throughout (Brian Cox as Wallace's Uncle, Brendan Gleeson as Hamish his friend, Angus MacFayden as the Scottish King in waiting, David O'Hara as a fighting clansman, Ian Bannen as the Leper and the mad-eyed James Cosmo). And to top it all off - you get both Catherine McCormack and Sophie Marceau in the same film - easily two of the most beautiful women in the world. And of course there's also James Horner's haunting musical score - a beautiful air played on the Pipes which kicks in at key moments in the story; it can still bring a tear to your eye and a quickening to the pulse...
But most of the time you are seriously impressed with the cleaned up PRINT - because on BLU RAY - "Braveheart" is BEAUTIFUL to look at - it really is. Apart from a few lines in the opening shots of the Highlands, the transfer is almost faultless throughout and really adds to your enjoyment of the scenery, the costumes and the fantsically well-staged battle scenes. In fact, I also now remember why I liked it so much at the time - it had passion and fire - like "Gladiator" did - and still does.
The original bonus material remains intact, there's two extra hours of added-on special features and the whole 2-Disc set now comes in a tasty outer card wrap (like the Bond titles).
On BLU RAY "Braveheart" is a very handsome thing indeed - a sweetheart. And it has never looked this good and that's for damn sure.
Recommended.
PS: for other superb restorations on BLU RAY, see also my reviews for "The Italian Job", "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning", "The Loneliness Of The Long Distance Runner", "Zulu", "North By Northwest", "Cool Hand Luke", “The Dambusters” and “The Prisoner – The Complete (TV) Series In High Definition”, “The Ladykillers”, “Snatch” and “The African Queen”
