YMMV / Rob Roy

• Adaptational Displacement: The Walter Scott novel was adapted into films at least twice — one in 1922, and another in 1953 (by Walt Disney). The 1995 film is better known than the Scott novel and any other adaptation from it.
• Complete Monster: Archibald "Archie" Cunningham is a seemingly harmless, foppish dandy with a penchant for gambling and a desire to make his way in the world; underneath that is a cunning, heartless and sadistic man stopping at nothing to feed his greed and vanity. Archibald demonstrates his nastier side proving his incredible sword talents and toying with his opponent throughout the fight. Archibald solves his money trouble by ambushing and murdering the man the honorable chief Rob Roy of the MacGregor Clan sent to deliver a sizable amount of money to Cunningham's patron, the Marquise of Montrose, stealing the money and framing Rob as a thief. Archibald leads an attack on Rob's home, slaughtering his friends, and brutally raping his wife, later commenting she was "far sweeter forced than most women are willing." Despite being illegitimate himself and knowing the hardships of such a life, when the chambermaid he seduced is pregnant, Archie mocks and abandons her before, leading to her suicide. When he and Rob finally face in a Duel to the Death Archie once again displays his sadism by slowly inflicting wound after wound and trying to make sure Rob knows he has failed in everything.
• Evil Is Cool: Archie is a seriously depraved piece of work but he's played by the very charismatic Tim Roth and it's hard not to respect his skill in combat and bravery as he never backs down from a fight and very nearly beats Rob with a combination of skill, cunning and ruthlessness.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: When it came out, contemporary reviews, while praising his performance, keep pointing out how out of place it is to see Liam Neeson playing a burly man resolving his problems with physical strength and violence. Fast-forward to his post-Taken career, and that sort of character pretty much became his new Typecast.
• Moment of Awesome:
  • The final fate of Archie. Damn. Archie has been soundly beating Rob throughout their entire duel, with Rob being unable to land a single blow on him. Archie gets Rob to his knees, puts his rapier to his throat, and prepares to kill him...then Rob grabs the rapier and uses it as leverage to deliver one hell of a fatal blow. Again, damn. It gets better when you realize that Archie had about 3 seconds where he knew Roy Roy was about to strike him with likely a mortal blow, and then only dies about another 15 seconds later during which he is fully conscious, aware he is dying, and in utter agony. Damn, he deserved that.
  • Also, Archie telling a man pointing a gun at him that he doesn't think he has it in him to actually kill him, and then not even blinking when the gun goes off, does show that he's no coward.
• Moral Event Horizon: When Archie burns down Rob's farm and rapes Mary.
• Signature Scene: The duel between Archie and Rob is easily the most well-known part of the film. It uses long takes and wide angles as well as no music and almost no dialogue to put the emphasis on the outstanding fight choreography, which conveys all the character and drama of the scene.
• Squick: Many examples:
  • Killearn forcibly inserting his finger into the vagina of Archie's recent lay and then waking Archie up by making him smell his finger.
  • Rob Roy scooping out the guts of and then hiding inside a bloated, putrid animal carcass.
  • Mary dousing herself in the lake after being raped, right next to her brother-in-law.

---