Outlaw King (2018) directed by David Mackenzie is based off the real events of Scotland in 1304, where Chris Pine acts as the spark to a new rebellion against the English. The screenplay by David Mackenzie, Bathsheba Doran, Mark Bomback, David Harrower and James MacInnes has recreated the events and characters in an engaging way, making it extraordinary to me of how the narrative is structured.
The narrative is revolved completely around the famous Robert the Bruce (Chris Pine), from the start of the film where he makes his vows and swears loyalty to the King of England (Stephen Dillane), to the end of the film in the Battle of Loudoun Hill. Before I go on any further, there is some background information that you should know. The lords of Scotland asked King Edward the first for help on deciding who should be their new king. Despite of this, King Edward the first took the Scottish throne, which provoked William Wallace to spark a rebellion with other Scottish Lords. After that rebellion had ended, Robert the Bruce was forced to marry Elizabeth De Burgh (Florence Pugh), the goddaughter of King Edward the first. However, there was an outrage in the streets when Robert the Bruce was paying taxes to the English, resulting in Robert becoming angry at the English and forming a new army to rebel against the King, to claim the title “King of the Scots.” Wait, do you think it’s easy to win this war? You clearly don’t know your history and need to watch this film.
Chris Pine managed to present Robert the Bruce in a strong warrior in battle, but his Scottish accent was too weak to me. By Scottish accent, I mean whispering all the time and trying to sound northern. He does give the disappointed expressions as the struggle goes on in the film, but other than that, the acting isn’t what I would of expected Robert the Bruce to be like. On the other hand, Jame Douglas (by Aaron Taylor-Johnson) and Angus McDonald (by Tony Curran) are the real Scotsmen here. Whenever they fight, talk and scream, I felt like my Scottish side was cheering them on, they honestly warmed my heart. While the English characters like King Edward the first (Stephen Dillane), Edward the Prince of Wales (Billy Howle) and Aymer the second earl of Pembroke (Sam Spruell) all have two things in common, their disrespect to the Scottish, and my lack of respect for them. They all want power and honour but gave no honour to those around them, they only seem to shout orders and do almost nothing as impressive as Robert in my opinion. This makes it clear on who to dislike and support while watching the film. Stephen Dillane was close to making another Stannis Baratheon, but didn’t quite make it, almost like Winterfell.
I feel like Florence Pugh as Elizabeth needs to be mentioned because of how she is presented. Just to clarify, this film is deliberately made to be historically accurate, hence why she was more mothering and being loyal to Robert the Bruce instead of physically fighting in battle. This could be seen in a negative lighting, but in my opinion, the way she stayed loyal to Robert the Bruce when offered to leave him, she is stood strong by his side. Although, Robert the Bruce’s daughter called Marjorie didn’t really get presented that much, only to be seen, someone to be protected and then taken away from the camera, where I’m left wondering what happened to her.
If you’re a fan of medieval history (Norman fourteenth century) and Game of Thrones, then this is the film for you, I can tell you now, this film is impressive. The settings, props and costumes just made this film very accurate. The use of castles and costumes just gave me the sense that I was in the medieval atmosphere, while the weapons were used, I felt sick from watching so much gore, especially when someone was hung, drawn and quartered. I have to admit, I was hoping that the camera would look away from the deaths, but instead, I was met with a Game of Thrones kind of style as blood and guts were spilling out, which made me very squeamish.
This brings me to the camera work. Where I could see the action clearly without any shaky camera angles, but unfortunately had a good look at a lot of the deaths. There was a lot of established shots, giving bird-eye views of the settings and what was happening. As soon as you get to the mid shots, you feel like you’re right in the middle of the battlefield with no escape, encouraging you to panic in the heat of battle. In the battle against the McDougall army, there was use of the low angle in the water, where Robert’s army was forced to retreat into. I felt that this was appropriate to use for the battles, as it wasn’t disorientating and allowed me to keep up with the action.
To add to this, I just want to look more at the battles, as I didn’t realise how accurate the film is. The disappointment of Robert, the army slowly declining, all of this was very much what it would have been like back in the Scottish rebellion. Of course, the film was sped up from a few years to the two-hour film it is, to get to the final battle. In fact, if you know your history, you will know how key this battle is, and not just for Robert the Bruce, but for the future prequels to make what is said to be a trilogy for Outlaw King.
I thoroughly enjoy Outlaw King, although it was a bit gory at points, but Robert the Bruce’s story was recreated in the accurate way it should be. On the other hand, I’m not as impressed with Chris Pine’s acting as the other actors who made a good impression on their characters. If you’re a fan of battles with honour and blood, then this film is for you, so arm yourself with popcorn and charge to watch this film.
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