I love this movie so much

As Good As It Gets

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

"Rob Roy" was made at a time when the success of "Dances with Wolves" and "Unforgiven" had revived interest in the traditional Western, and director Michael Caton-Jones, himself a Scot, has admitted that the film is essentially a disguised Western. It transfers what could be a classic Western plot from 19thcentury America to early 18th century Scotland, with claymores standing in for six-shooters. The hero is even a cattle drover or, as Americans would put it, a cowboy. That hero, Robert Roy MacGregor, was a real historical figure who also features in Walter Scott's novel of the same name. ("Roy" in this context was a nickname, derived from Gaelic, meaning "red-haired", but here it is treated as a second Christian name; Liam Neeson does not play the part in a red wig).The film does not follow Scott's plot but is loosely based on the facts of the real MacGregor's life. In 1713 Rob Roy, a clan chief in the Scottish Highlands, is financially ruined by the machinations of the unscrupulous Marquess of Montrose and his villainous protégé Archibald Cunningham. (Cunningham is fictitious but Montrose was another real person). Cunningham has been described as an "aristocrat", but this is not really accurate because, for all his dandyish appearance and foppish mannerisms, he is really the illegitimate son of a prostitute and does not know who his real father is. Montrose has probably taken him under his wing because he recognises in him a kindred spirit, equally unscrupulous and even more ruthless.When Rob Roy is unable to repay the money he owes, Montrose has him declared an outlaw, seizes his land and slaughters his cattle; Cunningham brutally rapes his wife Mary. Rob Roy and his followers, who have fled into hiding in the mountains, wage a guerrilla campaign of revenge against Montrose, stealing his cattle and other property.This was one of two historical films with a Scottish setting made in 1995, the other being the Oscar-winning "Braveheart". The two films share one feature, namely a somewhat disapproving attitude towards homosexuality, which today makes them look rather old-fashioned, even though they were only made around twenty years ago. In "Braveheart" the future King Edward II is portrayed as stereotypically weak and effeminate, whereas here the treacherous Cunningham is gratuitously made bisexual, a lover of boys as well as women, a piece of characterisation which the scriptwriter presumably thought would make him seem all the nastier.That said, I must say that I found "Rob Roy" a considerably better film than the much-hyped "Braveheart". Mel Gibson's epic is a reasonably entertaining adventure story, but it does have its faults, quite apart from its many historical inaccuracies. It is overlong by at least half an hour, and the acting is of a variable standard. In "Rob Roy" Caton-Jones paces the action in a more satisfactory way than does Gibson, and the acting is also a lot better. I was not too keen on Tim Roth's performance, as I felt that he made Cunningham a bit too much of a one-dimensional pantomime villain, but there are three outstanding contributions from Neeson, Jessica Lange and John Hurt.Despite his status as Chief of Clan MacGregor, Rob Roy lives simply in a modest house which contrasts sharply with Montrose's elaborate palace. The code by which he lives is equally simple- honesty, loyalty and honour; when Montrose offers to forgive Rob's debt if Rob will testify falsely against one of Montrose's enemies, Rob indignantly refuses. Hurt's Montrose appears to be an elegant, courtly gentleman, but his surface sophistication hides a ruthless opportunist who will use other people in any way he can, provided it is to his advantage. Mary MacGregor could simply have come across as a hapless victim and little else, but Lange (who copes well with the Scottish accent) instead plays her as a tough, independent-minded woman who frequently disagrees with her husband even though she loves him dearly.The sword-fighting scenes, particularly the climactic duel between Rob Roy and Cunningham, were well handled; the film-makers clearly realised that the Scottish claymore was a heavier weapon than the duelling rapiers more commonly seen on screen and called for a different fighting style. Overall this is a splendid, stirring historical yarn on the themes of honour, love and loyalty. 8/10

Beautifully set in the Scottish landscape and with solid performances all round, for me this film lacked a credible story line. It's hard to relate to Rob Roy's sense of honour, on which the entire plot hinges, because the film fails to establish it sufficiently in the early stages. Likewise, Roy's foppish enemy's motivations are not fully explored, and so he comes across as a bit of a pantomime villain. But with stunning landscapes, charming music and some cracking sword- fighting, this is a reasonable way to spend 2 and a bit hours if you've already watched your top 100.

This might have been a good story. We picked it on Netflix because the cast was good and it had five stars. The landscapes are beautiful, and the settings and costumes are rich and detailed. They went to the trouble of casting heirloom cows for the cattle drive. Unfortunately the sound is recorded in a style that makes the dialog nearly impossible to hear. Everyone mumbles in an accent, and the voices are mixed much lower than the music or the sound effects. We gave up straining to hear what was going on after 20 minutes or so. Too bad, could have been a good movie. Four stars for Liam Neeson, zero stars for bad sound mixing.

What a year for highlanders! Nothing but a coincidence, but it's still intriguing that "Rob Roy", a movie about a Scottish hero, was released the same year than another movie about another Scottish hero, William Wallace aka the titular "Braveheart", directed by Mel Gibson, and winner of the Best Picture Oscar (that's for the trivia).Yet it would be unfair to compare the two films on the simple basis of their similar settings. "Rob Roy" is not only set four centuries after the epic battles lead by William Wallace, but the film's scope is totally different, it's more a historical biopic than an epic, more about a man, about two men actually and their imminent confrontation. The two men are Liam Neeson, as Robert Roy, cattle drover and leader of the MacGregor Clan, and Tim Roth as Archibald Cunningham, the sneaky henchman of the Marquis of Montrose, played by John Hurt, and both Neeson and Roth couldn't have played more opposite characters, each one is the other's perfect nemesis and that's what make their antagonism so thrilling. Indeed, a good movie can only depend on the quality of its villain; in that case, Tim Roth creates one hell of a performance, rightfully Oscar-nominated as the evil Cunningham.Archibald Cunningham reveals the hideous face of his personality when, after having heard from Montrose's factor Killearn (Brian Cox) that Rob Roy was getting a loan of £1000, steals the money from Roy's best friend, Alan McDonald (Eric Stoltz), kills him in the process, and makes Roy an official outlaw. However, Roy is given a chance to redeem himself by bearing false witness for Montrose against his main political rival the Duke of Argyl (Andrew Keir). Less than a plot device, Roy's expected refusal comes at the illustration of the definition he gave of honor in his previous scene with his children, "honor is something no one gives to you and no one can take from you". Roy is not just a skillful sword-fighter, and noble in a sort of Robin-Hood way, but he's a man of word and honor, as good as Cunningham is evil, treacherous and irredeemable. The film finds the right balance between a noble hero and a detestable villain, and it powerfully engages us in each of their story lines as they're not just one-dimensional characters. Liam Neeson towers everyone in the film, he t reminded me of the Scottish people who thought that William Wallace was 7ft tall, I wondered how good Neeson would have probably been in "Braveheart" (not that it diminish the merit of Mel Gibson) yet despite his commanding presence, there is a sort of stubbornness and relative naivety betrayed by his eyes, which compensate his huge height. On his side, Cunningman is shorter, less attractive with this sort of crisped grin and effeminate manners that fool everyone, until he uses his sword and proves to be a worthy fighter. He's got style, flamboyance while Roy is mostly seen stabbing sword on people. A lot is said about Cunningham's past as a bastard, and there's much more to know about him, not to forgive him, but to give him a certain level of depth. Yet the characterization that doesn't only rely on the performances of Neeson and Roth. Take Roy's wife, Mary, played by Jessica Lange, while she could have been your typical hero's woman, loving, caring and worrying, Mary has passion, honor, questions her husband and would be the victim of the ultimate abuse from Cunningham, in a very gut-wrenching scene. By the way, the film features much more sexual material than other historical dramas, but it's never gratuitous, each intimate moment, rape, or sexual reference serves the story and gives it a touch of authenticity a few film had the guts to portray. Would you really expect a scene where the wife would wake up and got to the beach to relieve her bladder, she could have been there for any reason, but "Rob Roy" also goes for the realistic touch, another urination is featured in the film, when Archibald wakes up, yes it's a detail, but sometimes we do remember them more than the rest of the plot. "Rob Roy" has a special attention to characters, avoiding the usual archetypes like sidekicks, romantic or comic reliefs, although Brian Cox has very funny one-liners in the film. But let's get back to Mary, and Jessica Lange gives justice to the character by not getting shadowed by her husband, she ends up playing an important part to the plot, by persuading Argyl to propose the final duel between her husband and Archibald, and this is another important touch. While the film could have used as a climax a chase sequence ending in a violent confrontation or a sort of battle between the clan members and the British soldiers, it goes straight to the point with the final duel. As if it was conscious that the viewers only care for Roy and Cunningham after having spent so much time watching them. And speaking of the climax, the film features one of the greatest and most surprising sword fights ever featured in a film, you could feel the exhaustion, the tension, the hatred between the two characters, and the conclusion is absolutely unpredictable even in its predictability. The sword fight is the determinant element of the film, without which it would have been passably good instead of great."Rob Roy" is a magnificent looking, and thrilling historical drama, signed by Michael Caton- Jones, it doesn't have the epic scope of "Braveheart", or the gruesome battles, but it has some characters that immediately stick in your mind, and features some spectacular action sequences. "Rob Roy" is great entertainment that deserves more recognition.