Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The heart of the Trossachs, July 31, 2000
Scotland is one of the most beautiful places on Earth, and Rob Roy takes full advantage of this. The scenery is appropriately breathtaking and epic, with the camera making huge sweeps of the landscape. A romantic setting for a very romantic figure.The truth of Rob Roy, like that of any folk hero, is a matter of speculation and debate. Those looking for an adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's book (also fictional) will be disappointed. Scott's book takes place long after the events described in this film with Mary and Rob at the head of an outlaw band. It also stands apart from Braveheart, which takes place about four hundred years earlier, and is an entirely different period of Scottish history. That being said, Rob Roy is a lovely film with a quiet feel and a personal story. Liam Neeson is perfectly cast as the large, honorable highlander. Tim Roth is every bit his opposite, small and dangerously deceitful. Jessica Lange, Rob's wife Mary, is stoic and strong. All the supporting players give excellent performances, both English and Scottish. The Scottish music is lovely, and the Gaelic song sung at the gathering is captivating. The duel at the end is one of the best I have seen.
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27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than _Braveheart_, December 2, 2004
'I could not love thee (Deare) so much,
Lov'd I not Honour more.'
Honor is what this one is all about. When people say 'They don't make movies like that any more', _Rob Roy_ is the kind of movie they have in mind. There are good guys and bad guys; the good guys have honor and the bad guys don't; in the end, honor wins the day, but not without a costly fight.
More concretely: Robert Roy MacGregor, clan leader and cattle herdsman, has borrowed a substantial sum of money from the Marquess of Montrose; Archibald Cunningham, a young acquaintance of the Marquess, has plotted to steal it; the Marquess will take the clan's lands if the debt can't be repaid. The MacGregor is offered a (duplicitous) way out but refuses to compromise his honor.
If that sounds like every Western you've ever seen, that's not a coincidence; director Michael Caton-Jones deliberately approached this film as a Western set in the Scottish Highlands. The story is based on a historical figure who became legendary in eighteenth-century Scotland, but this screen treatment plays very fast and loose with the actual history.
Liam Neeson is imposing and magnificent as the MacGregor, and Jessica Lange is surprisingly effective as his wife Mary (despite some inconsistency of accent). John Hurt and Tim Roth are deliciously malevolent as the pair of effeminate Sassenachs who have it in for our Rob; a more lethal pair of fops has never been seen on the silver screen. The protean Brian Cox appears as the cowardly and treacherous Killearn. And music fans, watch for Karen Matheson, who makes a brief cameo as a singer. (Capercaillie performed much of the soundtrack; that beautiful voice you hear is Matheson's. And by the way, Carter Burwell's soaring score is as gorgeous as the Scottish scenery.)
I don't know anything about swordfighting, but the blade-to-blade stuff in this film is surely some of the best (in a dramatic sense) ever committed to film. All this swashbuckling beats the heck out of the usual Western gunfights.
Unfairly eclipsed by _Braveheart_ (which was released in the same year), _Rob Roy_ is to my tastes a much better movie. This is filmmaking in the grand style.
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42 of 45 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
worth a second and third look, June 17, 2004
Rob Roy, based loosely on the real life Highlander Rob Roy Macgregor, had the bad mistake of Hollywood timing. There must be a lot spy vs spy in Hollywood, industrial secrets being passed around for a price! Ever notice how if one movie company does some genre, then suddenly they all are? Well, someone whispered Mel as doing in man in a skirt drama (Kilt to you Sasunnach!) and suddenly they rushes to do another. With Rob Roy coming out at the same time, it hurt by comparison. Braveheart was a powerhouse tale of one man's fight for Scottish Freedom. Off the bat, you have a difference. Rob Roy was the story of one man's personal fight against wrongs done to him and his family. So the personal tale automatically feels "smaller". Not big battle scenes for Rob Roy. No King for an enemy, just a Scottish Noble, John Graham, Marquis of Montrose (brilliantly played by John Hurt, Ian McShane old RADA roommate!).Still, despite the automatic comparisons between the two films (both with problems of historical inaccuracies), Rob Roy should be given a stronger look. The acting is without fault. Neeson as Rob is great (who da thunk an Irisher could do such a good Scot!). Eric Stolz, Jessica Lange, Tim Roth (so utterly despicable!) Andrew Keir (5 Million Years to Earth) and Brian Cox (the first Hannibal Lector in Manhunter, a REAL Scot mind you! He did double duty by playing Mel's Uncle in Bravenheart), gives performances that are flawless. The Highland's are filmed in breathtaking beauty, the writing is gritty, sharp with a good idea for detail. Frankly, any film that has Liam "Calling down the Gregor" commends itself to my Scot heart!
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