Checked out Mary Queen of Scots, the new British royalty costume drama starring Sairose Ronan (as Mary) and Margot Robbie (as Queen Elizabeth). This is roughly the kind of movie the OTHER British Royalty flick I saw the other day was mocking (speaking of The Favourite). I’d say this is a better overall movie by a hair.
This film is about the Scottish and English queens and the political machinations that rise up against Queen Mary of Scotland. It posits a mostly by-letter sisterly relationship between the two monarchs… and then adds in an a-historical face-to-face meeting between the two queens that never happened but arguably adds to the flick. Ronan and Robbie are very good in the flick and giving them a scene together was probably necessary.
This movie is generally kind of bland and boring though. It gets better as it goes along though. Which, yes, means its pretty grim in its first hour. Basically once the betrayal, backstabbing, marriages, deaths, and revolutions kick in, the movie gets more interesting or more tolerable at least. I hate to pull a Fred Savage and want them to skip to the good parts… but I can’t argue I was bored for around half of this flick.
One unimpressive thing is how much this film is catering to modern audiences while trying to otherwise adhere to history. The film goes full feminist… which is its right, especially with what they have to say about the two female monarchs. The problem is that they don’t trust the audience and make bumbling, obvious declarations about MEN and how SISTERS can get shit done if they (the men) weren’t around. But the way Mary (and Elizabeth) are encircled by bearded angry men does make a statement about how much power they really had. Again, I liked the approach, I didn’t like the execution.
This movie ultimately struggles for relevancy and tries too hard to cater to a modern audience. It’s not a terrible film at all and gets a mild recommendation if you like British royalty costume dramas, the story of Mary Queen of Scots, or just want your feminist criticism bluntly and directly stated. I’d mostly give it a pass otherwise.
Score: 74