‘Outlaw King’ Film Review: Chris Pine Scottish War Epic is Meh-dieval
For those of you wondering why “Braveheart” was only three hours, when the wars of Scottish independence lasted decades, there’s now two more hours of it in the form of “Outlaw King.”Taking place in the space between William Wallace’s insurgency and the “Braveheart” coda, “Hell or High Water” director David Mackenzie’s ruddy, muddy, bloody 14th-century chronicle of the successfully rebellious campaign Robert the Bruce (Chris Pine) waged against English king Edward I (Stephen Dillane) isn’t likely to replace Mel Gibson’s Oscar-winning warrior cry in the pantheon of medieval war epics. Sometimes, getting there first with overlooked, then heightened, battle history has pop culture advantages.But as Netflix-and-kill offerings go, “Outlaw King” is a respectably engaging slice of freedom-fighting bluster, if ultimately suffering from the same need to bleed that weighs down most warfare sagas these days. Mackenzie shaved 20 minutes or so after its ...