Hmmmmm, how do I even review this one?
I have not felt this indifferent towards a movie since… well, since ever.
Maybe I expected more from the film before I’d even watched it, and my expectations were just so far removed from what the end product actually was that it left me just a tad disappointed? Note to self: watch everything with zero expecations.
Robbie and Ronan (who sound like a 1970s comedy duo when I write it like that) both deliver almost immaculate performances of Elizabeth and Mary, there’s no doubt about it. However, nothing new came to light for me as a result of this movie. Maybe I shouldn’t have watched the entire back catalogue of the TV series Reign and then watched this two years later, because in comparison to the Gossip Girl-esque vibe of the latter, this was extremely boring.
Going part and parcel with that, I strongly believe that if you went into this movie knowing nothing about the history behind it, you’d just be downright confused unless you paid 100% of your brain’s function to concentrating on it. Which, if you know anything at all about biology, is not possible. Even as someone who has been inside the real life Holyrood Palace where Mary Queen of Scots lived, it was really difficult to get excited about the majority of this movie while I was watching it.
It’s a tough watch, I won’t lie to you. But is it downright terrible? I wouldn’t go that far.
TQR Category Ratings:
Performance: 
Cinematography:
Soundtrack:
Costume & Set Design:
Overall Rating:
The Quayside Review 