X
- 1995
- R
- United Artists
- 2 h 19 m
- 1995
- R
- United Artists
- 2 h 19 m
Summary Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange battle evil landowners among the breathtaking landscapes of the majestic Scottish Highlands in this riveting adventure of courage, love and uncompromising honor. (MGM)
Directed By: Michael Caton-Jones
Written By: Alan Sharp
- 1995
- R
- United Artists
- 2 h 19 m
- 1995
- R
- United Artists
- 2 h 19 m
Rob Roy
55
8.4
Where to Watch
Summary Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange battle evil landowners among the breathtaking landscapes of the majestic Scottish Highlands in this riveting adventure of courage, love and uncompromising honor. (MGM)
Directed By: Michael Caton-Jones
Written By: Alan Sharp
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 19 Critic Reviews
55
32% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
58% Mixed
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
11% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 19 Critic Reviews
55
32% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
58% Mixed
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
11% Negative
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
Powered by a Scottish writer, a Scottish director, and the rugged beauty of the Scottish Highlands, this is clearly a labour of love, and the passion gets right up on the screen.
As embodied by Liam Neeson, Rob Roy is a tremendous protagonist -- a naive man whose belief in honor and whose love for a woman, family, and clan make him a figure to cheer for.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 69 User Ratings
8.4
83% Positive
57 Ratings
57 Ratings
13% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
4% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 69 User Ratings
8.4
83% Positive
57 Ratings
57 Ratings
13% Mixed
9 Ratings
9 Ratings
4% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
"Rob Roy" is one of my all time favorite movies. It's about a man of integrity, strength and depth in a corrupt and shallow world. The great Liam Neeson carries the movie effortlessly on his broad shoulders. Beautiful Scottish backgrounds. A wife any man would die for. Deliciously evil and dangerous villains. Spectacular fight scenes and a great love story. What more could anyone want.
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Although it's an agreeable movie, Caton-Jones's direction is too discreet -- too civilized -- to stir the viewer's blood.
Casting, in fact, is Rob Roy's dominant virtue, a hedge against its overlong 2 1/4-hour running time and some initial reluctance to get rolling. [7 Apr 1995, p.01.D]
You always know where it's going even as it meanders for two and a half hours getting there.
Working with cinematographer Karl Walter Lindenlaub, director Caton-Jones has givenRob Roy a beautiful wide-screen look, filled with gorgeous vistas. But this film is like a color Xerox copy of the real thing: hard to tell from an original until you look closely at the details.
Neeson simply has no spark here. He is good and honest and honorable until your face turns blue. He's just no fun.
One of the most underrated movies of the 1990s. I'm not always one for historical drama, but this is perhaps Liam Neeson's finest performance. The movie received limited attention because it followed the thematically similar and already-too-long Braveheart. That's a shame, because Rob Roy is superior to Gibson's bloated flick in virtually every respect: writing, acting, direction, and overall artistic value. It is a fine movie in the high Romantic tradition, with heart and grit, a story of honor, a tale of how genuine heroes act under trying circumstances. Sensitive audiences might want to be wary of the violence, and a **** scene. The Blu-Ray version contains significantly better graphics than the previous DVD version.
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Rob Roy is one of the best movies from the 90s and that is because it has some great actors. Liam Neeson and Jessica Lange have developed into legends in their own right and both have magnetic attraction that is evident in their pairing within the lush and rugged landscape of the Scottish wilderness. With beautiful scenery and a passionate dynamic in this coupling - the movie is thrilling and lovers of historical adventure films like Braveheart are sure to enjoy it. This movie is a movie-goers delight with a phenomenal back story and great sequences to carry through a telling of adventure, romance and heroism about a place uniquely and largely regarding history easily forgotten and not often told.
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This film is often compared to "Braveheart" because both talk about Scottish heroes. But all the similarities stop there. They portray distinct historical periods. However, this film isn't the true portrait of Rob Roy's life. It totally ignores, for example, Rob Roy's participation in the Scottish Jacobite uprisings and the Battle of Glen Shiel (1719), to focus on the personal conflict between him and the Marquis of Montrose. The film also ignores that it was Rob Roy's popularity among the Scots that truly saved him, forcing King George I to grant him royal pardon. So we can say that this film is partly fiction.
Liam Neeson gives life to the main character and does it in a convincing and enjoyable way. His Rob Roy is a thoughtful and intelligent man, who balances courage and good sense, knowing when and why to fight. This makes the character into someone nice to the public, especially when we realize that he is being cheated and fighting for his family and his honor. Tim Roth is the great villain, Cunningham, a penniless lower-ranking aristocrat with effeminate manners (its normal at the time in the nobles of the royal courts). Cunningham is full of wickedness, perfidy and disdain for those around him, showing that nobility of blood doesn't necessarily give us nobility of character. Lord Montrose is brilliantly played by John Hurt and Jessica Lange shone in the role of the honorable Mrs. MacGregor. Some characters feature a loaded Scottish accent that sometimes fails and turns out to be false, but that is a forgivable mistake. Apart from the positive work of the cast, we can still admire the good use of the film locations with beautiful Scottish landscapes. Cinematography is regular and satisfying. The costumes and scenarios are very good and historically accurate. The final product is a good historical context film, with no dead moments or flagrant anachronisms.
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Production Company
United Artists,
Talisman Productions
Release Date Apr 7, 1995
Duration 2 h 19 m
Rating R
Tagline Honor made him a man. Courage made him a hero. History made him a Legend
Awards
Academy Awards, USA
• 1 Nomination
Golden Globes, USA
• 1 Nomination
20/20 Awards
• 2 Nominations
