Review: Mary, Queen of Scots
Let us rule side by side.
Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan) has returned to Scotland to claim her rightful throne and attempts to persuade her cousin Queen Elizabeth (Margot Robbie) to name her the heir of England. They both have to put up with the men of their courts deciding that they know better than the women in power.
The two messages I got from this movie were 1) Men who don't see women as equals are the fucking worst. and 2) People who get butthurt over religion are the fucking worst. This is a yet another good example of a long hist of things gone wrong because of the two.
Kidding aside, I enjoyed this. It's been one of my most anticipated all year but recent reviews had me scale back my expectations. That worked in my favor because outside of Ronan and Robbie, Adrian Lester and to a lesser extent, Eileen O'Higgins (Brooklyn is life), no one else really stood out. The majority of the men in this movie could've been interchangeable. No one was bad, they just didn't leave an impression.
What did leave an impression was the stunning hair and make up, The film is quite drab. It's always cloudy, the colors always muted except for the bright reds of our leading ladies' hair and Elizabeth's wardrobe.
Some might not like the historic liberties taken here, but this makes for a fine watch. I applaud the filmmakers for their diverse casting. Though, the trailer kind of ruined the films titular moment by showing so much of it. It makes the teasing they do leading up to it kind of useless.
Recommended: Yes
Grade: B-
Memorable Quote: "I'm more a man now than woman." - Queen Elizabeth (Margot Robbie)
I'm really hoping to catch it before it leaves the one theater it's showing at. Christmas has kinda slowed down my theater visits.
ReplyDeleteI hope you get a chance too, the release is so limited I just want it to do well.
DeleteThis is at my local multiplex although I'm not sure if I'll have time to see it before the year ends as I just saw Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (great fucking film).
ReplyDeleteSpider-verse is amazing! Hopefully you can see this too before it leaves.
DeleteThis looks pretty fun! That barn scene where they finally meet looks like excellent reaction gif source :D
ReplyDeleteThe barn scene is good but the way they teased it was funny considering they gave it away in the trailer lol.
DeleteMerry Christmas Brittani
ReplyDelete💛🎀🎄🌟
💜💤🎄🌟
❤️🎵🎄🌟
💙🍌🍇🍎🍉🎄🌟
Merry Christmas, Carson!
DeleteI love historical films but this just looks meh to me. While I like these two actresses neither suggests the women they are playing to me. Maybe because having seen the 70's version with Glenda Jackson as Elizabeth and Vanessa Redgrave as Mary I can't imagine anyone embodying them better, even if their film was also flawed. They possessed a gravitas that neither Ronan nor Robbie have and for portraying a queen-even one as foolish and careless as Mary-that's an essential element. It also stuck pretty close to events, except for a meeting between the two women which never happened but I suppose was expected by the audience, and this one seems to take a freer hand.
ReplyDeleteMaybe when it gets to DVD.
I've never seen the 70's version. This one is definitely less factual but it works.
DeleteI have to laugh at the two messages you got from this because my instant review of this was "Fuck religion and fuck men". They really are the WORST lol. According to a good friend of mine who knows her British history it's actually mostly accurate, too. I was surprised by how much I liked it, since the trailer was so underwhelming.
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