Mary Queen of Scots (2018) - Review

Mary Queen of Scots

In this 2018 adaptation of “Mary Queen of Scots" we see it starring two of Hollywood’s hottest actresses in Saoirse Ronan as Mary, Queen of Scots aka the Queen of Scotland and cousin to Elizabeth the I and Margot Robbie as Queen Elizabeth I and the Queen of England. It’s a virtual retelling of the of the same film from 1972 starring Vanessa Redgrave and Glenda Jackson.

In both films the story explores the turbulent life of the charismatic and more beautiful Mary Stuart (Ronan) the only surviving legitimate child of King James V who through marriage was also Queen of France at age 16 and widowed at 18. To maintain peace between the two countries Mary is urged to remarry again but defies the pressure to do so and instead returns to her native Scotland to reclaim her rightful throne as Queen of England and Scotland. But now Scotland and England have fall under the rule of the compelling Elizabeth I (Robbie). Each young Queen beholds the other in calculating fear through their respective male dominated counsels who are also rivals in their pursuits to maintaining their power.

Trapped in a web of love and deceit these two determined young female queens operate within a relentlessly masculine world with Mary specifically determined to rule much more than a figurehead by asserting her claim to the entire English throne. This decision by her begins a decade long threat to Elizabeth's sovereignty with episodes of betrayal, rebellion, and conspiracies that could imperil both queen thrones and, in the end, changing the course of history of the British Monarchy as we know it today.

REVIEW: I love historical dramas as they can be quite entertaining and fascinating when directed with clarity and honesty to all sides. And while director Josie Rourke makes every attempt to retelling this story fairly it only comes across after two hours as being more complicated than I remember the original. At times this 2018 version comes across maddeningly dull and uniquely generic in its execution for such a rich human story of intrigue.

Ronan and Robbie give fine performances here as the competing determined queens. They exude the full range of strength, sensuality and intellect to making their characters come truly alive. The story also offers up some rather impressive looking set designs, beautiful cinematography and hair, makeup and costume designs of which I am certain they will garner some serious Oscar consideration next January. The aesthetic beauty of this film really jumps off the screen.

But beauty is no substitute in its failed effort to giving the substantive parts of film its “raison d'etre”......its reason for its existence. All we are left with after watching two hours are way too many men perpetually looking out for their own interest. Two respective queen counsels doggedly pursuing absolute power with aloofness, secrecy and calculating deceit. So much so they became an indistinguishable blur as to who was on which queen’s side.

“Mary Queen of Scots” basically lacks solid directing and writing consistency. It leaps about and around key plot points leaving the viewer only to be more confused than before and in the end making this adaption more of an exercise of laborious painstaking patience to watch rather than something cinematically to thoroughly enjoy.

2.25 Stars