Review of Mary Queen of Scots (2018) by Charles19 — 24 Dec 2018

What an awful film. I would have left after 15 minutes but my companion insisted that I stay. There are three reasons for my poor review:

(1) The actresses chosen to play Mary and Elizabeth were lightweights and were never believable in their roles. Saoirse Ronan does not have the gravitas to pull off the role of Mary. She may be fine portraying contemporary characters in movies, but not historical ones that are larger than life. Particularly annoying is that she speaks with an Irish accent and she is supposed to be a Scottish queen. The woman who plays Elizabeth is better, particularly when portraying her as haughty and aloof, but when she gets simpering the portrayal becomes annoying. Besides, all Elizabeths will ultimately fall short when compared to Cate Blanchett's performance. In this case, way short. On the positive side, both actresses "looked" the part so their anemic performances were a particular letdown.

(2) What a disastrous decision to populate the courts of Elizabeth and Mary with Black and Asian actors. Of course, I have no problem seeing these actors in movies... except when it harms the historical authenticity of the portrayal. There were no Black and Asian people in the high courts of both countries during that period, let alone a Black English ambassador to Scotland. All this for artistic license. Such a dumb decision!

(3)The director of this film really missed the mark.I blame the director for the odd pacing and stilted dialogue. The real problem is that the movie is very literal, and lacks any type of nuance. It also lacks historical accuracy in other ways, such as portraying a meeting between Mary and Elizabeth, something that never happened in real life. The meeting itself however is a fine example of cringe-worthy acting and dialogue.

I am dismayed that some professional critics gave this movie good ratings. I will pay more attention to those that didn't, in the future. The only good points were the costumes and cinematography... but if that is a movie's only claim to fame, I say what a waste of a couple of hours.