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So I watched this over the weekend, and kind of went into it skeptical, and pretty much had it on while I was doing other things. I can't say I am a huge Chris Pine fan, but I have to be honest I thought he did a pretty good job, as a matter of fact, he is actually part of the reason I kept watching. But what really sold me was the sets and the costumes, and especially all the mud. If there is one thing I can't stand when some movies are made is how everything looks dry cleaned and polished, when in reality things back then were pretty dirty. I could feel that dirt in the sets that made me give the film a chance. Also, they were dressed properly as opposed to Braveheart, which no Scot was wearing kilts in battle back then.



Given the story is trying to sum up an awful lot in 2 hours, obviously much of it isn't accurate, but if you remove the need of historical accuracy, I was pretty impressed with some of the directing. I mean, this is a Netflix film and not a Paramount or Disney film. I figured there was only so much Netflix could do. I could have done without some of the singing and so on, but the locations were pretty awesome and it looks like this was shot in Scotland (I'll have to check).

But the most brilliant part, was the final battle. And not that it was even historically accurate either and in real life took place over 2 days not 15min, but I was in awe watching the knights charge. Especially from the angle of over the shoulders of the Scots. All I could think of was THIS IS HOW THE BRETONNIANS LOOKED! I was so pumped. For those that don't know, I recently got into WFB and just picked up one of their old Battalion sets, and while I was iffy on them before, I love them now.





In a day when everything is f'in CGI these days it was nice to see real horses and feel the thunder through the speakers. I was very impressed.

So anyway, I guess overall while I was really impressed with the sets, I liked Chris Pine, and loved the final battle, the story... well, its was average I guess. But here is the interesting thing: I would have loved for this to have been a series. Even if they just made up the story. If it was just a Games Of Thrones like story about Chris Pine leading a rebellion I would have ate it up. So while it was coming up short on some things, it excelled enough on others for me wanting more. I feel robbed that its over.

I watched it. Pretty great imo. They did a real good job with the asthetic and the action was brutal in a great way.

Pretty much agreed. It's not accurate, but then it's a dramatisation of history not a documentary, so what you're looking for is that it's inaccurate only as much as it needs to be to tell a more cohesive story and in that regard it mostly succeeds. The costuming is actually fantastic, and in that regard seems like they really did their research and stuck to it outside of a couple of flourishes.

Pine was the big surprise for me. For one, his accent was mostly pretty damn good. He managed to walk the line fairly well between making the Bruce a sympathetic figure while hinting at the ambitious and pretty ruthless political animal underneath. Black Douglas was brilliant - never want to hear the name Douglas again, eh Edward? Hah.

I'd have preferred to see the full length cut that was shown at festivals because I suspect it would have properly emphasised Bruce's desire and plotting to be King without relying on the audience inferring that from his more cynical actions in the final cut, which feels like it only exists so they could put out a version for the cinemas, a gakky move for those of us who were never going to watch it in a cinema. But better still, I agree, would have been doing this as an "event series" or something. 8-10 longform episodes fully exploring the conflict and the characters, and ending with Bannockburn rather than a text epilogue would have been much better than the film even though the film was decent.

EDIT: Plus it has the "that guy" contingent among the Unionists and the English all riled up, which is always fun.

I also loved seeing the War Wolf demonstration. As well as Edward's comments to Bruce right after. Something like "You had the courage to stand up to me, and the wisdom to stand down."

Going to watch it again soon.

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THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN A MINI-SERIES!!!!!!!!!!!

AAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH


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Yeah I just watched the final battle on my phone here at work and its even more glorious the second time as it was the first. You actually feel like you are in the mix.

Really well done.

Yeah i think Black Douglas was my favorite. Extended version? Id buy a blu ray for that.

Same as you - went in skeptical. Expecting something really poorly polished but in the end knowing they didn't have a huge buget and they made something this good. WOW. Very impressed.

Pines Accent was great. The fighting was brutal. Costumes were authentic. Pretty much the same praise as everyone.

1 caveat - lots of brutal horse deaths and while it's true this isn't shown enough in movies - I see why - I really don't like watching it.

Yeah I agree. Its hard to see. If humans want to hack themselves up they only have themselves to blame. getting all the animals involved sucks. Think about how many horses died in WWI and WWII.

Ever hear of Hans Von Luck? He was a panzer commander and fought all over Europe and Africa and wrote a really fascinating biography. Anyway, in it he describes being in a bunker on the receiving end of a artillery bombardment when suddenly a rabbit ran into the bunker and jumped into his arms. Of all the things that guy wrote and that detail is the one that stays with me the most.

Yeah, Great Britain lost something like 1 horse for every 2 men in WW1.

Good movie. I wasn't blown away by it, but a solid film.

I liked it, for what it was. Exceeded my expectations.

Agree that the horse deaths hurt a bit. But I liked this movie. More than Braveheart personally.

Funny thing. I didn't know much about the Battle of Loudoun Hill, but after seeing the movie and looking it up, I was quite amused. The defeat of the English cavalry in 1307 is remarkably similar to the defeat of the French cavalry one hundred years later at Agincourt. The use of terrain and mud to blunt and massacre the primary enemy advantage namely. One begins to wonder if the English learned something.