![]() If Rourke is taking a free hand here (one might be tempted to wonder), what else is embellished?Īll these hesitancies blunt the impact of “Mary Queen of Scots” and keep it from being what it wants to be: a smart, sorrowful refocusing of history’s lens on two powerful women whose commonalities outweighed their differences. In addition, the decision to cast some roles with racially diverse actors - an accepted and welcome stage practice - is more jarring in the supposedly realistic confines of a historical drama. ![]() Similarly, a conspiracy against one of Mary’s courtiers, a gay troubadour (Ismael Cruz Cordova), feels invented or embroidered despite being part of the actual record. When Mary takes an interest in Henry, Lord Darnley (Jack Lowden), a dashing English Catholic, he’s presented as a sympathetic intellectual and emotional equal (with appealingly broad-minded sexual proclivities), then, in rapid succession, a rake, an abuser, a traitor, and a fool he’s not a character but a series of plot necessities. Scenes and characters blend into each other as a result, and good actors like McArdle, Martin Compston (as Mary’s protector-turned-turncoat Lord Bothwell), Ian Hart (as Lord Maitland), Guy Pearce (as Elizabeth’s chief adviser William Cecil), and Joe Alwyn (as her lover Robert Dudley) tend to get lost in the shuffle. The problem, it seems, is that Rourke hasn’t yet learned to speak the language of cinema with fluency. She gets the scenery right and the performances, but the movie is less a movie than a collection of scenes lined up in a row, and the tone wobbles between pomp and circumstantial melodrama. Rourke is a storied British stage director - currently the artistic director of London’s Donmar Warehouse theater - who makes her film debut here. The film is feminist in spirit and deeply and interestingly empathetic in the playing. “Mary Queen of Scots” is a historical epic that understands the risks and dangers faced by women in positions of power coveted by men. Robbie seems miscast at first but deepens into the part, especially after Elizabeth survives smallpox with a ruined yet imperious visage. Ronan is a solid Mary, elegant, arrogant, and naive all at once. “No, I choose to be a man,” Elizabeth responds, “and marriage is dangerous.” Elizabeth knows she’s stronger as a sexless king. And yeah, Beca decides, she kinda really needs to do something about it.Elizabeth, for her part, rules uneasily over a Parliament that wants her to get married, produce an heir, and be done with it, especially since Mary will have a stronger claim on the English throne if she bears a child first. For some reason, Chloe has been doing a great job at pushing all of her buttons. In the midst of the hype and hysteria, Beca is having a harder and harder time dealing with a certain redheaded friend of hers. A serial killer has silently and secretly infiltrated the a-capella community. These murders-murders which, Beca reluctantly admits, would be hilarious were they not so terrifyingly real-show no signs of stopping. Little did Beca know, this start to her sophomore year is about to drastically change when a new Barden Bella is decapitated at the hood party and sent rolling into Amy like a bowling ball. "Alright nerds, let's go with." Beca called out to the new crop of auditioning students as she leaned back comfortably in hear chair. ![]()
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