 Hi and welcome to Celtic History Decolyde, I hope you're well. So unfortunately over the last week or so I've broke my wrist, so I can't travel or drive at the minute. But now I'm interested in making the most out of a bad situation and silver linings and all that. I want to start a series, or I have wanted to start a series on reviewing Scottish and historical movies in general and I thought this was a great opportunity to start this series as I can't really do anything else at the minute. So today I'm going to review The Outlaw King, a film that came out a couple years ago on Netflix. So what is The Outlaw King about? You may ask. Well I'm sure many of you have actually seen the movie but the kind of one liner on IMDb was a true David vs Goliath story of how the 14th century Scottish outlaw king Robert the Bruce used cunning and bravery to defeat the much larger and better equipped occupying English army. So just to be clear there will be some spoilers in this video, particularly as we progress through the video. Fun fact, Outlaw King is actually the scene of one of the longest wonners in cinematic history. It's at the start of the movie and I think it's about nine minutes long or something. It's incredible. So by one or I mean like a single continuous take tracking shot with no cuts and no visible cuts. And I do think it was one shot, it's not just kind of like good editing like I don't know if anyone saw the film 1917, phenomenal film and I think the cinematography and stuff in that film is incredible. But that's kind of shot to look like a one or but I think there is about seven or eight cuts in that but obviously still long takes throughout. But anyway in this one is about eight, nine minutes scene at the very start of the movie. And it starts with Bruce kind of pledging allegiance to Edward Longchanks, the King of England. And then it goes through the kind of nobility of Scotland pledging allegiance because at this point in the Scottish War of Independence, lots kind of Scottish nobles had kind of given in the fight of that period that emplaced allegiance and there was a wee bit of a kind of lull in the rebellious activities at that point. But anyway it starts on Robert Bruce pledging allegiance and the first part goes through the nobility, then there's a sword fight between Edward the second, Edward Longchanks son and Robert the Bruce which is quite incredible and a one or a single take shot. The choreography and the kind of performance needs to be so spot on for that to be a like a continuous nine minute shot, you know you can't cut around mistakes. So then there's a sword scene and then the one is finally ended with like a kind of giant catapult flaming catapult scene. So in that sequence it introduces James Douglas who is kind of known as the Black Douglas I think later on although there's a couple people of that name in Scottish history but yeah he became a kind of major commander in Robert Bruce's army and the first Scottish War of Independence he was kind of a major figure on the military front as a military commander. So in that opening one or that opening eight, nine minutes. So it's a really good way to set up that movie because it introduces him as well obviously Robert the Bruce and some of the dynamics between the characters as well because I believe Robert the Bruce he actually grew up or he spent time in the court in London when he was younger because he is from the ability you know he's not you know a standard kind of normal person who was low birth and didn't have a lot of wealth. He was of his high birth, was from the ability, he was you know the era of character, his father and grandfather had political power and political aspirations for King. So yeah it's a good introduction or way to set up the movie in that single shot sequence and it really sets up some of the dynamics, the personality dynamics between you know Robert the Bruce and Edward II for instance that then it goes on to kind of further explore in detail later on in the movie. So the director of the movie was David McKenzie who's done other films like Hell or High Water I think it's called with Jeff Bridges which is meant to be really good and like say some of the stars Robert the Bruce is played by Chris Pine does pretty good job Elizabeth DeBorg is played by Florence Pugh and then lots of other actors everyone acting in it I think they've done well I don't think there's anyone you would think particularly that didn't do you know very well and it's quite interesting time frame they do focus on in the film it picks up in 1304 that's the openings kind of sequence and I think it's a somewhat made update but roughly speaking the timeline of the film is quite accurate and it is quite a good introduction to Robert the Bruce's life in general particular that period so it focuses only from 1304 to 1307 1308 so it's about a four or five year period during the First Scottish War of Independence which began in about 1295 or so but it's basically you could do it is almost like a second phase of the First Scottish War of Independence and especially in the rebellious phases because obviously William Wallace had risen up and Andrew de Moray who was kind of more a northern like rebellious leader who then linked him with Wallace and but that was about 1297 1298 you know you had the Battle of Sturland Bridge which thinks 1297 and the Battle of Falkirk where Wallace was defeated in 1298 or so so it's to basically is after William Wallace and certainly after his rebellious phase and there is a kind of trigger point in the movie poor Wallace was executed and exactly whether that was actually a trigger point for Robert the Bruce is hard to say or not but anyway it picks up in about 1304 the opening shot of Robert the Bruce, pledging allegiance to the English King, Longchanks, King Edward I, so that's the opening sequence where you see Robert the Bruce basically because he is from political family as political aspirations then it moves through to Emari's Elizabeth de Bourg who's played by Florence Pugh, she does quite a good job as well actually, Elizabeth de Bourg was the daughter of Richard de Bourg who was part of the kind of lordship of Ireland and this kind of Norman Cleak Angle Cleak then essentially the trigger point in the movie for Bruce having questions about his allegiance to England was Wallace being killed or executed but I don't necessarily think that's historically accurate at all I don't think Wallace was necessarily the trigger point for Bruce to take in a rebel but anyway in the film and obviously for artistic purposes and the chance you know simplify things sometimes and obviously it's easier to do that it's a good emotional trigger as well for the film it obviously touches as well on Bruce killing John Common, reasonable depiction of it obviously there's dialogue between two in the church and as far as I understand in the historical record we don't necessarily know what they said to each other I think basically Bruce is in the film anyway Bruce you know obviously wants to be king so I'm sure it's something to do that there were two people that were competing for the Scottish crime and obviously the first Scottish War of Independence broke out because there was a succession crisis after Alexander the Third died, Edward the first came in immediately for a bit, installed John Belio for a period he was considered a kind of weak king and then it goes on and on and on but essentially there's always been a kind of power vacuum in Scotland and there has been a power vacuum in Scotland to do with the kingship for decades prior to this really coming along Bruce obviously someone from a politically aspiring family his grandfather and his father had political aspirations for king but anyway basically it does a good job of going through Robert the Bruce's life and also showing the sacrifice that Robert the Bruce has to endure during that period and it does a good job of depicting how Bruce had numerous brothers and many of them did actually you know die during that period and his wife and daughter were both captured for years upon years and Bruce himself you know was on the run for a period he was outlawed so it's a really good introduction to the first Scottish War of Independence in general if you want a kind of film and more kind of Hollywood introduction as opposed to a pure documentary and it's not obviously will be some pure history but the timeline particularly to do with Robert the Bruce's life is brilliant and it's really good at giving you a good overview of that period and goes for him kind of pledging allegiance to the English crime to then kind of having doubts about that to then having to kind of flee for a period after mother and John Common which it does go through and to then coming back and kind of hit and run campaigns against English forces in English positions and Scots death policy which I think they did and it does do quite a good job the film of showing him kind of burning castles burning grounds and as they were kind of trying to take Scotland back castle by castle land by land forum by forum and during that period and then finally builds into the battle of Loudon Hill which took place in about 1307 1308 and we wrote the Bruce Dud does beat a English force much larger English force and some of the kind of tactics that the explorer in the movie is quite similar and to the tactics they would have used and anyway they had to be quite strategic and Bruce had quite strategic strategic in the battle of Loudon Hill and because England much larger force lots of cavalry and so he did pick a bog type environment and also I think there was a platform through the bog they meant that the English forces had to you know going quite not single file but quite a narrow focus of the force so the fact they had so many different cavalry and so much more so many troops the fact that Bruce picked a bog you know they would get they got weighed down whenever they tried to flank them either way and so basically obfuscated or reduced the impact of England having more more forces and so it did quite did quite a good job of going through that that battle and Bruce did win that it was one of the major early kind of military victories and obviously there was lots of hit and run campaigns and but this was a kind of military standing battle if you will Robert the Bruce won and it was one of the major victory that then propelled them on and yeah it was about six years after that was the battle of Bannock Bannock Byrne but yeah it's a really fascinating time period they did pick I'm kind of glad they did pick that obviously Braveheart it's like so much kind of bells and whistles in a sense the you know high entertainment good film like it not really historically accurate I think Outlaw King's probably more historically accurate accurate than Braveheart in particular time with timeline wise there is some major issues with this the history of the film at certain points and like say the discussion between common and Bruce we don't really know what they said so there was definitely artistic license just kind of filling in the blanks but we kind of have a general idea it was over a power struggle and then obviously Bruce stabs common probably the one point where it's the least historically accurate is it the battle of Loudon Hill and the way they set it up and initially some of the kind of tactics used the environment the kind of bog like environment the Bruce picked for the battle and is quite accurate and obviously Scotland used that and Bruce used that to his advantage and but there's a scene at the very end of the movie and obviously it's just a way to end the movie between Edward the second so Edward Longshank's son and Edward the second who was like the Prince of Wales and then went on to be a king of England after his dad died and I believe that who that was who this this person is depicted he was apparently had like a one-on-one battle with the Robert the Bruce and the battle of Loudon Hill which never happened it's kind of like a quite ridiculous scene quite good for entertainment purposes but for historical purposes it is just complete nonsense so at one point basically Edward the second and Robert the Bruce find themselves just like in a one-on-one environment and then Robert the Bruce basically disarms him and defeats him and in any real environment obviously if that's your enemy you would capture or capture him or kill him it just like lets him go like you know see you later on we'll just continue to fight this war for the next decade or two so that parts just kind of nonsense but I think it's just for the personality conflict that they kind of set up between the two between Robert the Bruce and King Edward the second long shanks son throughout the film it's kind of a way to tie that together and kind of make you know the English guy who's you know a bit of a prick you know just seem a wee bit inferior and Robert the Bruce is obviously meant to be the hero of the story so you know that obviously understand why they do it it's not pure Veritas history it's just you know what they thought was a good story to kind of and capture the end of you know wrap up the movie at the end but yes it's still a good scene like well directed well shot obviously we need to do a rating so out of five stars I would give it 3.9 I don't think it's the best movie you ever see certainly not the worst movie you ever see somewhere in the middle I think it's quite slow and starting in some sense and you know I quite like Christopher Nolan not always liked Christopher Nolan the director always liked this quote by some producer from the 1930s 1940s where he really liked movies that started with an earthquake and then built a crescendo this movie doesn't do that it starts slow and then it gradually builds to a crescendo and ends in kind of loud loud and hill battle and that's obviously there's points of action and it is quite gripping but it's quite kind of grounded compared to something like Braveheart I would say it's definitely a Braveheart like a ten on the dial of like Hollywood bells and whistles this is like you know a six or a seven which doesn't mean it's bad and it just means it's like the tone of it it's a wee bit more kind of stoic and it's weaving more subdued and it's more real it's kind of I think you know the actors were in the wild a lot they were filming outside a lot and they'll kind of hold tone of it even the dress and costumes everything's anything the grade of it you know the color grade it's all you know it's not completely on your face like Fast and Furious or something you know is much less subdued but I think that's what it needs to be if you want to have a kind of relatively accurate historical film you know tonally it probably needed to be like that and so yeah I'll give it 3.9 out of 5 and please let me know your rate rating in the comments below I would interested interested to see if you've seen it I think quite a lot people probably have seen it and I've sought two or three four times I've sought quite a few times now and let me know what you would give it out of five and 3.9 I would say is solid 5 is like you know unattainable so you know probably 4.5 is the highest anyway you could give a film but anyway and yeah 3.9 which is a solid solid effort and yeah the acting's really good in general and the directing's really good costumes good locations good I don't know if it's film but it looks like it's filmed in Scotland or maybe Ireland and so quite the landscape looks like it should look type thing and good locations in the wild a lot which light outside a lot which a light because obviously that kind of film if they've done it like green screen or whatever it would just be a absolute disaster and so they seem to be in location a lot and which is good so yeah definitely recommend it if you've not seen it I would say watch it if you've not seen it for a while I would say what if you've already seen it type thing I would definitely recommend it as well so is the outlocking more historically accurate than Braveheart well the short answer is probably yes both obviously they're historically grounded and you know William Wallace was a real person so Braveheart was accurate in that sense obviously there's artistic license well these things they're movies they're not documentaries if you're writing a kind of screenplay for one of these things you can obviously pick and choose what you want to use and you can obviously speed up time you can change timelines a wee bit you can introduce characters or introduce dialogue to move a story along even though it's not remotely historical historically accurate and so I understand all that outlocking though is quite accurate I would say particularly like I probably said about five times already timeline wise like even not precisely be just a general timeline of Robert the Bruce during that period you're not initially in the legions and because you know a political kind of nobility noble who obviously understood and he's dad and his grandfather he understood sometimes I suppose you need to tour the line especially if you want if you have political aspirations and then he kind of rebels then it goes into not hiding but you know it goes to either for a bit in the movie I think he does kind of hop around some of the islands lives quite low he's obviously getting excommunicated excommunicated as well and by the Vatican during that period because he stabs common you know that that's kind of in the movie he does declare himself king though and or he's appointed king all around that point as well and then he comes back and a gorilla work warfare tactics Scotch Death tactics gradually rebels you know slowly castle by castle grows in numbers and then the battle of Loudon Hill which is the finale of the movie that's a real battle that took place like I was kind of saying earlier and the fight scene between Robert the Bruce and Edward the second and the Prince of Wales didn't happen I don't think I don't even think Edward the second was at the battle of Loudon Hill and it was one of the kind of noble general types or commander types his name is bands or balance and was one of the English leaders at that battle and I don't even think Edward the second was there he may have been there but it was definitely a one-on-one battle between Edward the second and Robert the Bruce at Loudon Hill and Robert the boost just like let him go you know I just never happen and so let us know if he was in the comments below if Edward the second was at Loudon Hill and but I don't think he was so yeah good film from entertainment perspective but also from a historical perspective and as far as a historical rating of how good I'm gonna give it 3.9 out of 5 for an overall rating historical rating might be similar to be honest maybe maybe a 3.5 for historical accurate accuracy and like I said we don't really know what Bruce in common said to each other that it's not quite historically accurate but it maybe was similar to the conversation that they put in the movie type thing seeing that then between Robert the Bruce and Edward that that couldn't have happened I don't even know Edward the second was there but yeah I'm trying to get any other real gross let me know in the comments below maybe I'm just forgetting off the top my head there was probably other things I can't remember but yeah anything else you think's historically inaccurate in the comments below if you disagree with anything I say anything I said as well please let me know in the comments below it's always good to get your food back going forward as well I kind of want to do more reviews of films I really like films TV series TV series obviously you need to like watch a lot so if I'm not seeing it that might be harder to do but certainly movies and I want to review movies more and historical movies they're quite easy to make these videos as well you just kind of like put the camera up and watch a movie and then react to it so it's not there like the most time-consuming thing ask you to pick content that's the most time-consuming thing to do like documentaries and then travel locations and then you know exploring all these like complex historical features and these are a wee bit easier to make so I want to make more down the line on top of everything I usually do just kind of introduce this series so if you have movies in mind that you want me to review please let me know in the comments below like say the only kind of criteria would be it has to be something to do with history or something listening to the history and outside of that we're good and I'll try and do these just just going to get a chance and obviously my wrist I'm hoping it's going to heal in the next month or so and so I'll be able to drive more and hopefully the next couple weeks I'll be able to do a wee bit more in general but I thought this was a kind of good good chance to make a video keep the ball rolling and I was like watching movie reviews as well shout out to critical drinker and he's one of my favourites Scottish as well so you know part of the trip and you know got to keep keep the Scottish faith going especially when we're talking about Robert the Bruce anyway thanks for watching like say let me know your thoughts in the comments below whether you like this idea of a series or not and if you've got any movies you want me to review and obviously we might do some kind of live streams and stuff down the line and where it can be a wee bit more you know interactive in the live sense and yeah let us know in the comments below any films you want to me want me to review and coming up in the future and yeah thanks for watching and remember to subscribe hit the bell obviously you can support me if you want and if you don't financially support me tell your friends and family about the channel and that would be perfect and yep I'll see you next time cheers