Chris Pine is playing Robert the Bruce in an upcoming Netflix movie, and he’s here to prove that he can sound like a Scotsman—and, you know, unite the country and seek revenge and win independence from England.
I’m not going to lie: I’m going to watch this movie for Chris Pine, the accent, and Pine’s 14th-century scraggly bearded look regardless, but the trailer is promising enough. Pine will be playing Robert the Bruce, the legendary Scottish warrior who led his nation in battles for Scottish independence from England, a bid that would prove successful in his lifetime.
Robert’s storied life—especially his efforts against the English, and the internal fighting to secure the Scottish throne from his rivals— naturally lends itself to sweeping cinematic scope. I’d say that this trailer is going for an especially gritty take on Robert’s escapades, except Robert’s actual escapades were pure grit.
You may remember Robert the Bruce as a character in Braveheart, which didn’t exactly depict him in a historically accurate fashion. It remains to be seen how much authenticity we’ll get with Outlaw King—yet even abbreviated, Robert’s activities are a good fit for a splashy “historical action drama” starring a big movie star who seems keen to show off his Acting(tm) chops. This appears to be “history” done up with Game of Thrones-esque production style and likely similar amounts of violence and romance and sadly fewer dragons, but as a history nerd and Chris Pine enthusiast, Netflix has me already.
The only thing that made me laugh and raise my eyebrows was the card that read “based on the untold true story,” because Robert’s story has definitely been told many a time. Netflix should not promote the movie this way in Scotland, just a bit of advice.
Outlaw King co-stars Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Quicksilver himself!), Florence Pugh, Billy Howle, Tony Curran, and Stephen Dillane. Also co-starring is Chris Pine’s thousand-yard blue-eyed stare, which calls for its own billing. The movie hits Netflix on November 8th, 2018.
(image: Netflix)
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