Outlaw King (2018)- Review

Robert the Bruce‘s story realised on film

The filmic telling of Robert the Bruce and his revolution against King Edwards occupation of Scotland, spanning a three year period in his life story from his initial moves towards starting the rebellion and culminating in the Battle of Loudon Hill. Boasting a star studded cast and helmed by David Mackenzie (Starred Up & Hell or High Water) this is one of Netflix’s better originals if a little flawed.

The story itself is one everyone can enjoy, at its core it’s the ultimate underdog story and the film lets it unfold extremely well, even if a titles the action is a little badly spread and the narrative is a little jumpy. That is honestly one of the main and only flaws, the framing of the narrative and it’s presentation is slightly poor, similar to Little Women (d. Greta Gerwig, 2019) only not having that visual giveaway that the characters are of a different age. Now I can’t profess to be a history buff in any sense of the word and it’s probably a personal problem as a result of that but it wasn’t till later research it became evident the time period was a three year span. I wouldn’t say it’s much of an issue, just a little jarring when trying to rethink and write on this title but I suppose it could come off as a little disingenuous to the actual tale and just giving it that ’Hollywood Tint’ to be more glamorous on screen.

With that in mind I believe the only real main issue which is by proxy of the prior, is a distinct lack of depth. Characters and their arcs, particularly the more minor individuals seem a little too rushed and in the odd case are just filler for the 2 hour run time. For as well crafted and stunning as this film is, that shallowness to the characters would genuinely have been better served as a limited series. Sure it might’ve meant making a few concessions with the cast but the likes of Taylor-Johnson and Pugh, especially in the year it was released, strike me as willing actors to star in a series as the former looks to regain his charm and the latter in Pugh was still yet to really explode as a star performer. Not only would the characters and story have been served better by a limited series run, there’s a clear audience for it as well, see Game of Thrones (2011-2019), Vikings (2013-Present), The Last Kingdom (2015-Present) etc. There are a million other fantasy epics I could’ve also listed but the point remains, there’s a clear audience for that type of project and it has its merits as a format. The King (d. David Michod, 2019) would've also greatly benefited from this approach.

A well crafted and entertaining film, but was desperately in need of being better developed

Reviewed by: Thomas Jay