13/3/2019 ‘Outlaw King’ Review: Bloody Medieval Times and Guts - The New York Times

Outlaw Kingʼ Review: Bloody Medieval

Times and Guts
Outlaw King Directed by David Mackenzie Action, Biography, Drama, History R 2h 1m

By Manohla Dargis

Nov. 8, 2018

Why do moviemakers insist on telling historical stories when they’re really just interested in
costumes and war? There’s nothing new about the abbreviated history you find in “Outlaw
King,” a monotonous slog through the life and brutally terrible times of Robert the Bruce (1274-
1329), a Scottish noble who fought — and fought — the English. At least in old Hollywood,
filmmakers would also try to entertain you amid the clashes and post-combat huddles, giving
you something more to watch and ponder than this movie’s oceans of mud, truckloads of guts
and misty, unconsidered nationalism.

The whole thing is a letdown, especially given that the last time its star, Chris Pine, worked
with the director David Mackenzie, it was on “Hell or High Water,” a neo-western written by
Taylor Sheridan that had ideas and characters to go with its genre moves. Mackenzie is one of
three writers credited on “Outlaw King”; it’s evident that its problems started on the page and
were so deeply ingrained that he never found a way to direct his way around them. The
overlong, battle-heavy two hours (the movie has been trimmed since its festival run) also
suggest that he was too in love with playing general by proxy.

The recurrent churn of soil, blood and bodies largely seems to be the point, even if the
presence of Pine and a few other fine performers nods to the movie that might have been. Pine
of course plays Robert and offers an excuse to watch “Outlaw King” whether he’s staring
thoughtfully into the picturesque Scottish distance or expressing alarm, grief or
determination. These modes indicate the limitations of the character, though Pine recurrently
manages to dig deeper into Robert than the dialogue does. He puts flesh on the man by
tapping into his humor, longing, dread and gentleness, qualities that convey the story’s most
painful stakes better than any battle.

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13/3/2019 ‘Outlaw King’ Review: Bloody Medieval Times and Guts - The New York Times

Chris Pine as Robert the Bruce, the title character of “Outlaw King.” David Eustace/Netflix

Alarm, grief and determination also shape the story, its relative lulls (with family and friends)
followed by organizing and spasms of violence and so on. It opens with Robert and the other
Scottish nobles — once led by an unseen William Wallace — licking their wounds, having
recently been routed by the English. The enemy invaders in turn are led by King Edward (the
characteristically excellent Stephen Dillane), a ruler whose perpetual disdain for the rest of
humanity periodically swerves into disgust. In other words, “Outlaw King” more or less picks
up where Mel Gibson’s “Braveheart” left off; to that end, Wallace’s legend and one of his body
parts put in appearances here.

Robert and the other nobles make uneasy peace with Edward but are shortly pushed back into
violent rebellion, which is where Mackenzie seems happiest to have them. There are periodic
cutaways, including to Robert’s new English bride, Elizabeth (the appealing Florence Pugh),
whom Edward marries off for diplomatic reasons. Pugh helps elevate this thin character,
furnishing Elizabeth with enough of an inner life that you, like Robert, miss her whenever they
separate. The attempts to invest Elizabeth with a little overly modern-sounding feminist
resolve fall short, though, and are reminders that historical fiction rarely knows what to do
with the little ladies left at home.

Mackenzie does nice, tight work now and again, mostly in more intimate sequences, but too
many scenes drag, and his fetishistization of violence proves numbing. In one, a gutted, dying
man’s entrails spill to the ground; in another, screaming horses and men are impaled on
spikes. It’s telling that while the story turns on nationalism, the movie feels untethered from
life. It takes the Scottish desire for sovereignty for granted (also: the English are greedy and

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pathologically sadistic). Yet like many movies of this type, it never engages a simple yet
profound question: Why would human beings, especially the lowliest, willingly die to be ruled
by a king named Robert instead of one called Edward.

Outlaw King
Director David Mackenzie

Writers Bathsheba Doran, David Mackenzie, James MacInnes

Stars Chris Pine, Stephen Dillane, Rebecca Robin, Billy Howle, Paul Blair

Rating R
Running Time 2h 1m

Genres Action, Biography, Drama, History

Outlaw King
Rated R for extreme medieval violence. Running time: 1 hour 57 minutes.

A version of this article appears in print on Nov. 9, 2018, on Page C8 of the New York edition with the headline: Going Medieval in Embattled
Scotland

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