Outlaw King: every so often, a film telling a story of fight against tyranny is indeed staying close to the original tale; such is the case with David Mackenzie’s film (it streamlines and simplifies, but it’s not that far from historical facts). Of course, that by itself doesn’t mean much; the story (not fully by its own fault) is somewhat tired at this point, the narrative is very conventional and the characters are exactly what one expects them to be; it’s competent but far from engrossing. That also can be said from the acting: Chris Pine is in good shape (literally and figuratively), but the role doesn’t call for much; the same can be said of Florence Pugh, who projects a lot of spirit to a role that calls for more airtime. Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd does a characteristically great job: the film starts with a bravura nine-minute take, and settles down after that, but the dreamy, foggy Scottish locations (with a melancholic brownish-green hue) are very well captured. The Grey Dogs musical score reinforces the melancholy. Costumes look good, but for the most part way too clean to be believable. The battle sequences have good clarity to them (until, by design, they don’t anymore).