Review of Mary Queen of Scots (2018) by Allthingtrivial — 14 Feb 2019

Not even the excellent acting makes this film anything more than unremarkable. It's one fantastic story.Not even the excellent acting makes this film anything more than unremarkable. It's one fantastic story.

The political war of two sovereigns, both women, representing the polar opposite of each other in a time of huge turmoil. A proven young noble with political genius in her veins going against an old hand of politics who has spent a long time protecting her throne from all that challenges it.

How this screenplay managed to make such a leviathan conflict mediocre is beyond everyone who paid to see it. The biggest issue is the speed of the screenplay. So eager to cover an enormous expanse of time, it messily cuts from one scene to the next without grounding or context and in so doing destroys any sense of the stakes or importance.

Everything goes past in a whirlwind of bits left out and confusing time jumps clumsily explained in conversations. This leaves the characters in exactly the same limbo. They're all totally one dimensional and usually malicious or incompetent.

No back story, no explanation of their relevance, no character building. I struggle to care when every single person is a fatuous over-dramatic dullard who speaks in cliches and is on screen for maybe ten minutes in the whole film.

As for the main characters they are exceptionally well acted, but held back by a poor screenplay, even ignoring the historical inaccuracies (as some artistic license is required). Mary comes across as a petulant child, who throws away anyone who disagrees with her regardless of their (unexplained but mentioned) importance, is totally oblivious to the political dimension of anything, and rushes from calamity to calamity like a headless chicken.

The speed of the narrative doesn't help this as it never demonstrates her aptitude, she never seems a part of any of the big political decisions as the screenplay is too busy having her gossip, and shout at people for disagreeing with her.

It takes away from the political force Mary was historically and leaves the narrative unclear. Elizabeth is far better, and my favourite character of the film. She is active in her politics, makes genuinely hard decisions, keeps her composure as a regent must, and grows throughout leaving her to make a decision which - despite the melodrama - shows her growth as a character.

She, along with everyone else, seems to have an obsession with banging on about gender - as if this was a hugely debated topic in a society where the average life expectancy was 30-40 during a divide between the two major denominations of Christianity and a political cold war.

But again all these topics and indeed how the lines of accession or family tree functioned in relation to Elizabeth and Mary is all skipped over because of the films breakneck speed. Characters come and go, historical events come and go, but they're all a blur.

Lost in amongst monologues, jarring dialogue and possibly the worst battle scene ever committed to film in which a 'major battle' that decides if the rebellion succeeds is a horn being blown and twenty guys walking into a river because some people charged at them from the trees.

Like everything else, five minutes and done. It feels as if it's there just to say it's there. It is an enjoyable enough film, and certainly watchable, but not something you'll find yourself recommending to anyone else or even talking about at all.

When a film is dull enough you forget large parts of it having only watched it a few hours prior, that's all there is to be said.