Outlaw King (2018)

Director: David Mackenzie
Stars: Chris Pine, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Florence Pugh
Runtime: 121 minutes

Synopsis: Based on a true story, follows Robert the Bruce as he leads an army to claim the Scottish throne. 

• Performances: 6/10

Why? I honestly couldn't look at Robert the Bruce without seeing Chris Pine doing an accent. I'm not sure if the problem comes from his casting rather than his performance, but I do know that it's one of the reasons why the movie, unfortunately, didn't satisfy me as much as I wanted it to. The rest of the cast, despite not delivering performances I'd consider to be layered and memorable, did a decent job with what they were given. 

• Screenplay: 4/10

Why? Finishing the movie was a struggle, and its script was the main reason why. The film felt like a rushed miniseries where all the episode were cut together and as a result, featured way too many story arcs and characters. And not one of them was properly and carefully developed. The movie also lacked a lot of heart and it became immediately obvious to me that it threw its focus on painting the image of an era where violence was the solution to every problem, which, in the movie's defense, was very well put to screen. But overall I can't say that the story of one of Scotland's greatest figures did him justice, and I believe that it could've benefited from fewer storylines and a more direct narrative like its unofficial prequel, "Braveheart".     

• Costumes/Makeup: 7/10

Why? A real pet peeve of mine when it comes to these types of films are when the costumes look too "clean". That was unfortunately the case in this production. The makeup, on the other hand, looked spectacular and truly captured the violence and gore of the duels.

• Editing: 5/10

Why? The movie feels both overcrowded and slow-paced at the same time. The story wasn't coherently presented and the battles, despite looking great, sadly were weirdly edited and often cut short. Part of me feels that this particular story would've worked better as miniseries where the characters and storylines could've been better developed. 

• Cinematography: 9/10

Why? The reason that kept me from giving up on the film. The tale starts with a 9 minutes continuous shot that looked absolutely gorgeous and never falls back aesthetically. The locations where the movie was shot was also breathtaking, as was the color palette used. Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd is by far the MVP of this project. 

• Score/Soundtrack: 8/10

Why? The medievally themed score did what it was supposed to do, which is set up the times in which the action takes place, perfectly, and that is despite it not feeling entirely original.

FINAL GRADE: 6/10