Netflix’s ‘Outlaw King’ Will Cure Your ‘Game of Thrones’ Withdrawal

Netflix pulled off quite the coup at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, nabbing the opening night slot for their upcoming film Outlaw King and announcing their intention to play with the big studios this time around. The film, directed by David Mackenzie (Hell or High Water) is a massive medieval spectacle about the Scottish War for Independence starring Chris Pine as Robert the Bruce and a collection of beardy, wild-eyed, increasingly mud-caked actors who all look a little familiar as various allies and foes (if you’re confused as to who a given character might be, just assume he’s one of Robert’s brothers).

At 137 minutes, it is long, and the blood and brutality of its many battle scenes are not to be underestimated. But with Outlaw King, Mackenzie has delivered one thing Netflix has been lacking in its scrum to compete with not only the film studios but top TV destinations like HBO, and that is a top-notch sweeping action drama. And while HBO’s Game of Thrones is still the gold standard for its sprawling soap opera of maneuvering characters, on the level of big spectacle, Outlaw King stands toe-to-toe. It’s a big, bloody, beautifully-filmed epic with so much more personality than I’ve come to expect from a movie of this genre. (And yes, Chris Pine is naked in the movie.)

The film opens with Robert Bruce and the heads of all the other Scottish clans swearing fealty to King Edward I (Stephen Dillane), after having been defeated and usurped by the English, in part because they couldn’t stop fighting amongst themselves. But when Robert’s father (James Cosmo) dies, a bit of buyer’s remorse sets in, and when the mad rebel William Wallace ��� that’s the character Mel Gibson played in Braveheart, wisely and almost cheekily rendered as a forest-dwelling loon here — is executed, the Scots decide to unite under the banner of one king and fight the English again. The title and star billing of the movie kind of give away who that one king will be.

You’ll notice I’ve already named two (former) Game of Thrones actors in the above paragraph. Dillane played stern, doomed Stannis Baratheon, while Cosmo played stern, doomed Lord Commander Jeor Mormont. The comparisons are not hard to come by. The Scottish castle lands in the film are visually similar to what we’d see in Winterfell. The climactic battle in Outlaw King resembles the big, bloody scrum in “Battle of the Bastards.” Even Mackenzie’s attempt to wrestle himself out of the strait-jacket of history and give the phenomenal Florence Pugh more to do as Robert’s promised bride, Elizabeth de Burgh feels like a nod towards GoT‘s powerful and central female characters. There’s even a battle campaign that raises a dragon banner, so, yes, Outlaw King also has dragons! Sort of! Mind you, I don’t imagine David Mackenzie was following any kind of Westerosi playbook with Outlaw King. But these medieval war stories do tend to overlap, and if you’re going through Game of Thrones withdrawal waiting for its final season, the November 9 premiere of Outlaw King can’t come fast enough.

Pine does strong work (and delivers a respectable Scottish accent) as Robert, supported by Aaron Taylor-Johnson as an entire picnic-basket full of ham sandwiches as his fighting cohort James Douglas. Pine’s scenes with Pugh as tentative man and wife have an easy, almost banter-y vibe, which is certainly welcome amid all this brutal, testosterone-y fighting. Mackenzie works hard to keep his characters crackling. Dillane is demonstrably weary at having to put down yet another Scottish rebellion, and he’s even more weary at having to deal with his son, the Prince of Wales (and future King Edward II). As played by Billy Howle, the Prince is a marvelous scene-stealer, by turns petulant, cruel, and fully contemptible. In Gibson’s Braveheart, the Prince was demonized for the historical relationship he had with another man; in that film’s most notorious and loathsome moment, the Prince’s lover is thrown from a castle window to raucous applause. Outlaw King wisely chooses to keep from demonizing the prince in that way, but make no mistake, Howle walks away with this film.

Though he doesn’t walk away alone, as Florence Pugh’s Elizabeth manages to be a scene stealer while literally locked in a cage hanging outside the castle walls. She injects a vibrant life into all of her scenes, and if David Mackenzie ever feels like making a film with a female lead, he should look no further than his star here.

Bit by bit, Netflix has been claiming ground in their movie business. 2018 has been a great year for romantic comedies. But they had yet to really deliver on a film that might have at one time been a big-budget blockbuster (the regrettable dud Bright notwithstanding). Outlaw King is that movie, at last. A big, satisfying, muddy battle epic for both dads and swoony Chris Pine fans alike.

The 2018 Toronto International Film Festival is the unofficial kickoff to fall movie season. Oscar hopefuls abound as film critics and festival-goers get their first look at the movies we’re going to be seeing, talking about, and squabbling over for the next several months. And with Netflix showing up with EIGHT movies and Amazon Studios with four features plus one TV series premiere, Toronto is delivering quite the preview for what you’ll be streaming this fall. 

Stream Outlaw King on Netflix