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Before Mel Gibson lost Hollywood’s love he made Braveheart, the story of Scottish rebel William Wallace’s revolt against King Edward I. Overlapping with the events of Wallace’s rebellion, Outlaw King is, in many respects, a spiritual sequel to Gibson’s multi-award winner, albeit one that never hits Braveheart’s heights.
Chris Pine puts on his best Scots as Robert The Bruce, the ‘outlaw king’ of 14th-century Scotland. Outnumbered, Robert and his meagre force engage in guerilla warfare against the occupying English army, forcing rival kings into a battle for the future of Scotland.
Re-uniting with David Mackenzie, the director of superb neo-Western Hell Or High Water, Pine feels out of his element here. Sporting a dubious mullet, and an even more dubious accent, his Robert is full of contradictions that don’t sit right with the film’s depiction of him as a morally resolute hero. On the plus side, MacKenzie does such an impressive job depicting medieval Scotland in all its bloody, muddy glory it’s almost a shame this is heading to Netflix – there’s visual ambition here that would benefit from the big screen experience.
But without the crowdpleasing, underdog charm of similar David and Goliath stories, Outlaw King overstays its welcome, with at least two forest ambushes too many. It’ll fill a few hours, but don’t be surprised if your eyes drift towards the Braveheart DVD on your shelf throughout. Jordan Farley