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‘Outlaw King’: Robert The Bruce Scottish Epic


AncalagonTheBlack

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I watched the film on Netflix yesterday. I quite liked it, but it didn't feel as good as it could have been. I liked that its take on Scottish history was nowhere near as silly as Braveheart, although it did have some dubious moments - particularly the ending. I don't mind too much about Edward's presence at the wrong battle but the duel and the aftermath was ridiculous. It's also a bit weird that they make it feel as if Loudoun Hill was the decisive battle of the war. Before watching it I was a bit worried that they might turn the story into a simplistic battle of Good vs Evil along the lines of Braveheart but they did show some of Bruce's more morally dubious actions such as the murder of Comyn.

I had mixed feelings about Chris Pine. I thought he made a decent attempt at a Scottish accent, and he did well with both the action scenes and some of the more reflective scenes, but it was lacking in charisma. He was so enigmatic at times that it was hard to see why people saw him as an inspiring leader that they would follow into an apparently doomed cause.

There were some good performances from the supporting cast. I particularly liked Florence Pugh as Bruce's wife and The Douglas had the charisma that The Bruce seemed to be lacking. Stephen Dillane was also unsurprisingly good as Edward I, and you can never go wrong with James Cosmo or Tony Curran in your cast.

The final battle did a good job of explaining how Bruce use the terrain to defeat a numerically superior army, it's just a pity about the silly duel at the end.

The Scottish scenery looked gorgeous and we got a nice tour of Scottish castles, although its always difficult to see Doune Castle on screen without thinking "it's only a model".

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19 hours ago, williamjm said:

I watched the film on Netflix yesterday. I quite liked it, but it didn't feel as good as it could have been. I liked that its take on Scottish history was nowhere near as silly as Braveheart, although it did have some dubious moments - particularly the ending. I don't mind too much about Edward's presence at the wrong battle but the duel and the aftermath was ridiculous. It's also a bit weird that they make it feel as if Loudoun Hill was the decisive battle of the war. Before watching it I was a bit worried that they might turn the story into a simplistic battle of Good vs Evil along the lines of Braveheart but they did show some of Bruce's more morally dubious actions such as the murder of Comyn.

I had mixed feelings about Chris Pine. I thought he made a decent attempt at a Scottish accent, and he did well with both the action scenes and some of the more reflective scenes, but it was lacking in charisma. He was so enigmatic at times that it was hard to see why people saw him as an inspiring leader that they would follow into an apparently doomed cause.

There were some good performances from the supporting cast. I particularly liked Florence Pugh as Bruce's wife and The Douglas had the charisma that The Bruce seemed to be lacking. Stephen Dillane was also unsurprisingly good as Edward I, and you can never go wrong with James Cosmo or Tony Curran in your cast.

The final battle did a good job of explaining how Bruce use the terrain to defeat a numerically superior army, it's just a pity about the silly duel at the end.

The Scottish scenery looked gorgeous and we got a nice tour of Scottish castles, although its always difficult to see Doune Castle on screen without thinking "it's only a model".

Oh I agree with you with the bolded. It felt much less silly.

Agree about Chris Pine, although I kind of liked him. Dillane is just terrific there.

ABout the ending.....

Spoiler

I could not help but find the duel as comedic relief, which was not appropiate for the movie but I don't complain. But at least the character was consistent with his previous actions there.

My favourite thing about the movie was, by far, the cinematography- One of the best ones I've seen in Mediveal settlings.

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I liked it a lot.  The acting was good.  The fighting was sufficient.  The only downside for me is the pacing.  I feel like we didn't get the characterization we needed and it took away from it a bit.  I love the story so much though that I'd still give it like an 8/10.  Hopefully a director's cut comes out and maybe that improves it.

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3 hours ago, mactwist2 said:

I liked it a lot.  The acting was good.  The fighting was sufficient.  The only downside for me is the pacing.  I feel like we didn't get the characterization we needed and it took away from it a bit.  I love the story so much though that I'd still give it like an 8/10.  Hopefully a director's cut comes out and maybe that improves it.

Apparently the version we saw was about 20 minutes shorter than the original cut, so I wonder if we might see the longer version at the some point. Of course, we don't know if the extra material will actually improve the film.

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44 minutes ago, williamjm said:

Apparently the version we saw was about 20 minutes shorter than the original cut, so I wonder if we might see the longer version at the some point. Of course, we don't know if the extra material will actually improve the film.

It adds significantly to the Bruce's full frontal nudity.  That's all anyone's written about those 20 minutes.

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17 hours ago, williamjm said:

Apparently the version we saw was about 20 minutes shorter than the original cut, so I wonder if we might see the longer version at the some point. Of course, we don't know if the extra material will actually improve the film.

I'm assuming it at least shows the relationship between the Bruce and his wife a little more so it makes sense that she's okay with him going against the English like that.

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On ‎11‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 5:56 PM, williamjm said:

Apparently the version we saw was about 20 minutes shorter than the original cut, so I wonder if we might see the longer version at the some point. Of course, we don't know if the extra material will actually improve the film.

I have read that one of the deleted scenes included an appearance of William Wallace

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It was a good, but not great, film. Set pieces were beautiful, writing was solid, acting was fine and the battle scenes were well done. My only complaint would be the pacing in some spots. I can’t speak to the historical accuracy, which is actually pretty sad because I do have some Scottish ancestry, but it felt like an honest attempt.

Perhaps the most impressive thing about this movie is its budget. $120m seems insane for a Netflix film.

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Saw this the other day and wasn't impressed. It felt like a run of the mill paint by the numbers predictably boring bit of historical fiction. Maybe it would have worked better as a mini series but I'm not sure of that. It was so incredibly cliche and bland that giving it 4 more hours wouldn't have saved it, just prolonged the boredom. 

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  • 10 months later...

I just watched this cause of everyone in The King thread comparing it to this. Took a while to get going but I enjoyed it. The Black Douglas was such an awesome character. I thought the actress who played The Bruce’s wife was.a highlight as well. 

On 11/12/2018 at 10:20 AM, Iskaral Pust said:

could accept the dramatic license to place Edward II at Loudoun, I could just about stretch to have him crawl away as a sniveling coward, but I could not accept that the Scots would allow him to just retreat safely rather than take him captive for ransom and terms.  If you’re going to break with history to suit the narrative of the film, you still need to maintain coherence within the narrative. 

Yeah that really took me out of the movie. So stupid. Edward II portrayal in general didn’t do it for me. Loved Dillane as Edward I though. 

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6 minutes ago, Mark Antony said:

I just watched this cause of everyone in The King thread comparing it to this. Took a while to get going but I enjoyed it. The Black Douglas was such an awesome character. I thought the actress who played The Bruce’s wife was.a highlight as well. 

Yeah that really took me out of the movie. So stupid. Edward II portrayal in general didn’t do it for me. Loved Dillane as Edward I though. 

Florence Pugh. Check out Midsommar if you haven’t already seen it. She’s fantastic. 

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