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Mary Queen of Scots

This is what the critics are saying about Saoirse Ronan's new movie, Mary Queen of Scots

This’ll be a must-see in the new year.

SAOIRSE RONAN’S NEW movie Mary Queen of Scots, in which she costars with Margot Robbie, is due out in January. Very exciting.

Movieclips Trailers / YouTube

Can’t see the video? Click here.

Even more exciting still, the first reviews for the movie and the three-time Oscar nominee’s performance, are in. Here’s what you need to know if you’re already planning on queuing outside the Omniplex.

The Guardian

So, Benjamin Lee says our Sursh gives a “note perfect” performance in Mary Queen of Scots. However, he does question how historically accurate it is. Fair, tbh.

“Historians have already labelled the film problematic from Mary’s Scottish accent (apparently it was French) to the film’s dramatic in-person confrontation between the two queens (apparently it never happened),” he writes.

But your annoyance with these deviations will depend on how you view the gap between history and historical drama and while there are some embellishments, they’re embellishments that have been added to previous adaptations and the primary facts appear relatively untainted, the truth shocking enough to propel the plot by itself.”

And as one commenter pointed out in the comments for the trailer: “No one is watching this for educational purposes. Nobody’s gonna pay to watch a movie about passive aggressively writing letters. 

“It’s going to take some liberties because the Tudors aren’t very interesting to most people. Chill.” Meow!

The Hollywood Reporter

Todd McCarthy called Mary Queen of Scots “a spirited feminist take on the oft-dramatized tug-of-war between two 16th century British queens”. Sign us up TBH.

However, there’s also some criticism of writer Beau Willimon, who has previously worked on Netflix’s House Of Cards.

“For a writer of Willimon’s experience and expertise at juggling many characters and plotlines, too many scenes here are baldly expository in nature,” he writes.

The Telegraph

Robbie Collins dismissed the accent debate, describing Saoirse’s as “note perfect”. On the plot, he says:

There is so much plot, and indeed plotting, for the film to chew through that its final third often feels hurried, and buffeted along by Max Richter’s very trailer-like score, which always sounds as if it’s about to break into Zadok the Priest at any moment.”

He also praises the cast’s diversity and Alexandra Byrne’s immense costuming. 

Empire.

Helen O’Hara reckons the film is “a history lesson with more fire in the belly than most”.

It turns out that a feminist angle really can revive the same old Tudor psychodramas, thanks in large part to Ronan and Robbie’s authoritative performance.”

However, she also thinks the film is “oddly written and strangely stilted”. Take from that what you will, I guess.

Will you be heading to the pictures to see this? Let us know in the comments!

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