j* Movie Reviews 2019

Mary Queen of Scots (2018)

There wasn't as much Queen fight as I'd hoped.

I was expecting some real gung-ho queen rumbles, either through armies or in person or something. But nay, twas not to be. Basically imagine all that boring political crap we see on the news, but taken back in time. So all the backstabbing involves real knives rather than just a media lynchmob. But basically the same old stuff. Affairs. Bastard children. Power hungry idiots.

I really loved the way the English were Australians, with both Margot Robbie and Guy Pearce playing it up. And the acting was all good and stuff, but I just got a bit bored... to many back and forths with letters and painted portraits. And whilst I managed to keep the two red-headed female leads separate, I muddled quite a bit with the near identical love interests that were being suggested for Mary's marriage.

There's a lot of content, but as I feel about most history, too many facts and not enough quality story. Also it's a film where the bookended written explanations sound like they might have been more interesting than the film I actually watched.

It didn't suck, but it just wasn't for me.

J* gives it 3 stars.