Outlaw King: A Frustratingly Mismanaged Epic
Directed by David Mackenzie
Starring Chris Pine, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Florence Pugh
Netflix has seemingly decided in 2018 to fully dedicate to releasing films that could swing for Oscar consideration, with featuring its films in limited theatrical releases to qualify around the same time they are released on their streaming platform. One such film is Outlaw King, from David Mackenzie, director of the Oscar-nominated Hell or High Water. With a pretty great cast and crew, and subject matter ripe for an Oscar-baitey war-based biopic the likes of which comes out every year or every other year, it’s easy to see why Netflix felt comfortable shoving so much money into this production. It seemed destined for success. Unfortunately, the film has far too many flaws to really stand out among the crowded competition. It’s a shame, as the mismanaged script, the paperthin characters, and the meandering plot all get in the way of the pretty solid camerawork and the sprawling cinematic landscape the film does present.
The story serves as a sort of pseudo-historical sequel to Braveheart, as William Wallace is dead, and Scottish royal inheritor Robert the Bruce swears fealty to the English king, as Scotland is taken over and absorbed by England under their rule. This swearing of fealty quickly ends once Robert realizes the brutality of Wallace’s demise and the continued discontent that his people still have towards their new rulers, and he becomes the titular outlaw king, leading Scotland toward another revolution towards taking independence back from England. The premise is solid, but unfortunately this description is about as inspiring as the film gets. While performances by the three leads are all pretty good, their characters aren’t given very much personality or development throughout the film. They are consistently brooding and downtrodden, and there are very few moments of hope to get the audience invested in their journey. People often complain about epics like Kingdom of Heaven and Lord of the Rings for showing mostly walking journeys, but the difference between films like those and films like Outlaw King is that the former films give great characterization and follow a narrative that provides development and give enough flavorful set pieces to offset the slow paced scenes, providing a balanced and worthwhile cinematic experience. Bar an opening tracking shot with a sword fight that is admittedly impressive, the set pieces are pretty average, and the final major battle ends in an anticlimactic, confusing and unintentionally hilarious denouement. This film is written by five screenwriters, and it unfortunately shows. It’s a belligerent and arrogant mess that pretends it’s a lot more impressive than it truly is. There are sometimes when actors or camerawork or a soundtrack can carry an otherwise bad film to be somewhat average, but not even the technically sound aspects of Outlaw King can carry the badly written characters and the uninterested and apathetic nature of the narrative.
The performances are pretty good, but none are truly transcendent. Chris Pine plays a more brooding role similar to his previous collaboration with Mackenzie, but his character is not given really any development. He starts of as a royal noble with an outlaw’s heart and really stays the same. There are attempts to give him more heart with Florence Pugh’s character, who plays his wife and provides the best performance in the film by far, but something happens at the halfway point of the film that really relegates her to a much more isolated role away from any kind of purpose for the narrative. Chris Pine’s accent is pretty decent, but his beard does more acting than he does here. I believe the screenplay really did him a disservice as he has shown he can be fantastic in certain roles, and here he is just decent. Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who gave an Oscar-worthy performance in Nocturnal Animals, is also misdirected here, as his character alternates between a feral and vengeance-driven fighter and a brooding, cynical adviser to the Robert the Bruce, but his character needed more to do as well. Ironically, the characters that have the most development are the ones who meet an early grave, but because their arcs are cut short, they seem like missed opportunities. Finally, Mackenzie’s directing here is potentially its weakest, as though he uses his budget to provide a few good setpieces and battles, they never feel like they matter, as the plot feels workmanlike and like the movie puts an audience through a treadmill of despair and cynicism without any levity. Sometimes this can work in the right director’s hands, but I feel Mackenzie’s skill level is not quite here yet, as is evidenced over two ploddingly long hours here. The cinematography and landscapes are pretty at times, and that’s about all the visual stimulation we get.
Overall, Netflix’s efforts to really push this film as a work of great grandeur and spectacle have been wasted. Outlaw King is one of the most misguided and one of the saddest examples of wasted potential that Netflix has put out recently, and this is saying a lot, as Netflix has unfortunately released a decent amount of stinkers this year. I love Netflix as a company for the same reason though, they take a lot of risks and commit to films and television series that may or may not succeed. They’ve released things like The Haunting of Hill House and the newest season of Daredevil for example, which are both excellent. I just hope that Netflix are able to provide directors and their casts and crew the same level of care and investment to their films than they do their television series. They’ve released a couple good films in Okja and Beasts of No Nation, but the streaming giant still has a long way to go before they can seriously enter awards consideration in full force like they seem to want to this year.
Verdict: Skip It
Disclaimer: I review movies based on a 5-tier scale: See in Theaters-Full Price, See in Theaters-Matinee, Rental, Wait for Streaming, and Skip It. If a film is released straight to VOD or streaming, the rating will simply change to either Stream It or Skip It. If you disagree with this review, I encourage you to watch the film and as always, make up your own mind about it. Am I wrong? Am I spot on? Let me know in the comments below!
