Mary Queen of Scots

While this has all the historical pageantry and glorious costumes that one comes to expect of an historical epic, in the end this becomes kinda shallow. It could be retitled “The Adventures of Mary, the very polite lovely girl who never had any intentions of murdering any protestants, particularly not her lovely cousin Elizabeth” – Mary never comes across as anything more complicated than a impudent girl who keeps on having bad things happen to her, rather than someone actively engaged in the game of power just as much as anybody else. There’s a few messy accents (Saorise Ronan’s natural irish comes through here and there, as does Margot Robbie’s Queenslander, while David Tennant seizes the chance to go full Scottish and takes it to Tim-The-Enchanter-From-Holy Grail levels), some varied ethnic casting mostly in the minor roles (Gemma Chan and Adrian Lester really deserve a whole lot better than what they’re given here – if you’re going to do it, commit to it and give them meaty roles, dammit). Josie Rourke’s direction and Beau Willamon’s script really never get to grips with why Mary’s story continues to have interest, beyond the familiar choice to bring the two women (who never set eyes on each other) face to face. Instead this is clunky history told dully.