it was with great anticipation that i sat down to view braveheart last week as it premiered on american cable . 
the academy award winning film had been highly acclaimed . 
it also featured the music of one of my favorite film composers , james horner . 
what i was in for was a disappointing and overlong film which was anything but the best picture of 1995 . 
what drags braveheart down is its screenplay . 
it abounds with high production values : john toll's award-winning cinematography ( which also graced edward zwick's 1994 legends of the fall ) , a gorgeous score by horner , and the sort of logistics that make you wish assistant directors were household names . 
but this does not save a misguided script . 
the film wishes to paint its central character as a hero , but the viewer's only response to his " heroism " is intellectual : william wallace ( producer-director mel gibson ) is fighting for freedom and against tyranny , so we have to root for him . 
but wallace's actions paint a different story . 
he speaks of freedom and acts of vengeance . 
though one intellectually realizes wallace is on the right side , the film paints an unconvincing emotional portait , in which wallace is just not as bad as the english king . 
wallace speaks of freedom , but his acts point toward vengeance . 
after kicking the english out of scotland , he decides to invade england . 
this is evident of a " spartacus complex " , and this example applies both historically and cinematically . 
the historical spartacus at one point moved from liberating slaves to sacking roman cities ; the film spartacus , like braveheart , has high production values and competent performaces and is dragged down by an awful screenplay . 
it is a shame that such an excellent score is part of such a terrible film . 
horner's score tries to make emotional connection , but the performances and the script do not help . 
gibson portrays wallace in such a way that the audience cannot relate to him or identify with him . 
this drags down any emotional connection to the film's plot , and turns three hours into a total waste of time .