3 Short Paragraphs: Outlaw King

2018, David MacKenzie (Hell or High Water) -- Netflix

Those who know (you know, those who hear me repeat the same thing over and over and over, sort of like this blog) me, understand I go to anything remotely fantasy related when I am stressed. I always gravitate to strong heroes with swords and magic and monsters and quests. A subset of that is medieval (more accurately, period, as in period piece) or historical fiction -- basically any period where they swung swords. For example, the 14th century Scotland. But, what do I really know about Robert the Bruce? Well, nothing. He was a Scottish king that came after William Wallace and led his own rebellion against English rule. Apparently, with some success. Scotland, sword fights, Florence Pugh. Yeah, I am in.

So, as I don't know anything about Scottish-English history, I am not going to even try and tell you whether it was authentic. And since when does that matter? We begin with a gathering of Scottish noblemen presenting themselves before the King of England after Wallace's failed rebellion. Failed? Waitasec, didn't Mel Gibson win the fight in that movie? Whatever, if I caught things correctly, these were the guys who didn't back Wallace and therefore end up with a place at the table and given some control over their destiny. But not everyone is happy about that, and it doesn't take very long for Robert to see where the English are just taking advantage of the Scots. And after an argument with his lone rival, after which he murders him, Robert is basically forced to take the crown for himself. Almost immediately after he loses almost his entire army in a treacherous battle, and becomes an Outlaw King.

The fun part of this movie was the scale. We are not talking about mass armies of thousands meeting on the battlefields and slaughtering each other. Robert's war against the English is depicted as a guerrilla war, as he and his small band of faithful warriors sack their own Scottish castles (controlled by English or puppets) until the English king is forced to head north and deal with Robert himself. I liked how Chris Pine played Robert, while obviously a noblemen based on his clothing and demeanour, he was still a man of his people, getting literally in the trenches with them and being first into battle. The movie was more so about this man, and his relationships (for example, the loyalty exhibited by his assigned bride played by Florence Pugh), than about the history. There are few speeches, few things to connect us to Braveheart, but in the end, it was an enjoyable romp with swords.