David Mackenzie has been warning for so long in interviews that his film will definitely not be a sequel to Braveheart, until it has become perfectly engraved in the heads of journalists and fans. Outlaw King may not be in the same league as Gibson’s blockbuster, but the money is there and it deserves the biggest TV or screen, so Netflix can definitely make a difference in that regard. Already with the first shot, we move to Scotland at the beginning of the 14th century, when the local rulers are pushed to the wall by the English king. Anyone who chooses to resist ends up on the gallows, and his remains are displayed in the squares of major cities as a warning.
It only takes a few minutes in a country full of mud and incurable diseases for the viewer to understand that the local characters play life on Very Hard difficulty and can walk away from the plot at any time with their chins up. Chris Pine and his piercing eyes don’t fit in here at all because everyone else looks like they just came out of the barn after their day shift. But thirty minutes of careful world-building is all it takes to fully understand Mackenzie’s tactics. Outlaw King wants to be a bit of edutainment, an understandable and entertaining history not only for Scottish patriots, but for all those who have heard about Robert The Bruce somewhat sideways. The attempt to correct the popcorn shortcuts of Braveheart is most obvious in the chatty first half hour, but you will certainly not be bored, because the power intrigues are declaimed here by experienced actors and Pine’s charisma skillfully masks the fact that Robert was no angel.
Mackenzie isn’t afraid to get her hero dirty, which is clearly to the good of the cause, because there isn’t much time left for any more substantial character development. Chris Pine pulls Robert forward mainly through occasional conversations with his unexpectedly understanding new wife (an excellent Florence Pugh), in other scenes his actions speak for him. There’s no point reciting the entire plot here, but if you’re into powerhouse action and underdog stories, you’ll love Outlaw King. With a generous budget and minimal oversight from the producers, Mackenzie was able to give it a properly analog and dirty patina, be it mud or blood. This is an uncompromising eRko with well-thought-out and uncensored battle scenes. Until the finals, we’re talking about dozens or hundreds of fighters, but you can be sure that everyone is there with flesh and bones, not as a character made of ones and zeros.
It is the tangibility of the action scenes and the relative one-dimensionality of all the characters that makes the film such a nineties retro, when everything was more clever and honest. However, the director also makes schoolboy mistakes in his hasty move for the goal. Where his American study Hell or High Water can be described as a brilliant character study, Outlaw King fails because it jumps from place to place too briefly. In addition, Mackenzie cut a bit into it after the festival reviews, and the twenty minutes that remained on the floor are sometimes recognizable.
The jumps in time were necessary so that everything could be told in one film, but especially the transition from the second to the third act seems confusing. Some twists could have been sold more patiently, and the elimination of key characters is sometimes very hectic. Next to Pine’s Robert, you will probably only really remember the excellent Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who is unrecognizable under the curtain of hair, mud and sweat, but whose DOUGLAS will ring in your ears for a long time to come. It is Douglas’s bravery during guerilla ambushes that infuses the film with at least a little emotion. Robert is an internally torn and pensive character.
If it weren’t for the fact that Pine’s face can sometimes be read in silence like in a book, many of the viewers would be left on edge. Luckily for Mackenzie, the seemingly boring opening thirty minutes pay off handsomely, because a lot of things and twists are easily explained by saying “This time it just happened that way”. that Pine’s face can sometimes be read silently like in a book, would leave many of the audience on edge. Luckily for Mackenzie, the seemingly boring opening thirty minutes pay off handsomely, because a lot of things and twists are easily explained by saying “This time it just happened that way”. that Pine’s face can sometimes be read silently like in a book, would leave many of the audience on edge. Luckily for Mackenzie, the seemingly boring opening thirty minutes pay off handsomely, because a lot of things and twists are easily explained by saying “This time it just happened that way”.
I was able to tune in to the wave of this Scottish story very quickly. Yes, again it needs to be said that Netflix lacks dramaturgical supervision. I think that if someone experienced had locked himself in the editing room with the director, everything could have been narrated more clearly. On the other hand, Mackenzie isn’t a badass, he’s just a bit stubborn at times. I would love to return to his world in a miniseries because he is stronger than the characters themselves. A great camera also contributes to this, which brings you breathtaking panoramas of the Scottish landscape as well as superbly made costumes. This grimy world devoid of dragons, perfectly blow-dried hair, and board actors is much more sympathetic to me than the overhyped Game of Thrones. Outlaw King may not have lived up to its potential, but it’s further proof that Mackenzie is a creator worth watching. And Netflix is a service
Play the trailer would be unfair to end the review by thinking about whether this film belongs in big or domestic cinemas. Outlaw King can withstand the strictest standards. His only qualm is the Braveheart comparison. William Wallace may have historically implausibly painted himself as a Native American or an American football player in that film, but on his side are stronger visuals, more heart, and inseparable nostalgia. However, compared to Gibson’s fiery rhetoric, Mackenzie’s “sequel” offers more room for reflection and further combing through the rewriting of British history on the silver screen. Regardless of the fact that a similarly “boyish” and uncompromising film hasn’t been around for a long time.
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