Film Reviews: Wild ‘Favourite,’ incoherent ‘Mary,’ and badass ‘Mortal Engines”

Historical costume epics are a beloved Hollywood staple.

But what was once considered a somewhat old-fashioned genre has, over the last several years, been given a decidedly contemporary makeover, with a number of iconoclastic filmmakers wading in to put their own stamp on history. Currently, along with a number of big-budget fantasy epics – including director Christian Rivers’ apocalyptic steampunk cities-on-wheels extravaganza “Mortal Engines,” reviewed below – local theaters are screening a pair of movies about real-life English monarchs. “The Favourite,” written and directed by the ever-inventive Yorgos Lanthimos (“The Lobster”) takes a satirical, dark comedy approach to his material, while Josie Rourke (best known as a director of stage plays in London) brings a more personal perspective (keep reading) to what is clearly intended as a serious historical look at one of history’s most infamous rivalries. Here’s that three writers from our pool of reviewers have to say.

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS

Reviewed by Amber-Rose Reed

“Mary, Queen of Scots” is beautifully staged and shot, and always quite visually compelling, with particularly stunning costume design. Some of the parallels and motifs throughout were striking (keep an eye out for Elizabeth’s blood-red art project) and so, so beautiful. Both leads, Saoirse Ronan as the titular queen and Margot Robbie as her rival and cousin in England, are outstanding. Such different women, but both sympathetic and strong.

However, I sometimes questioned the agency of our protagonist, who was “acted upon” more often than she acted. Which could have been the point, with more thematic coherency.

I wasn’t quite sure what to say when I sat down to write this review. That’s sort of fitting, because I am not sure the movie knew what it wanted to say either. Is it intended to showcase the difficultly women have in navigating patriarchal structures that want, desperately, to keep them in their place? I thought so, for the first two-thirds. But the latter third mostly acts like a harsh royal biopic illustrating Mary’s strong, thwarted claim over England and Scotland both, and is much sloppier in the scripting of both leads.

A very disappointing, disjointed end to a promising, beautiful film.

THE FAVOURITE

Reviewed by Katie Wigglesworth

It’s been several days since I saw “The Favourite,” and I’m still a little unsure how to even discuss it properly. First, the film is packed with powerhouse performances. Emma Stone, Rachel Weisz and Olivia Coleman are brilliant, unsettling and ferociously commanding from start to finish. “The Favourite” is a dark historical drama that takes hefty notes from the best elements of the horror genre. Not a movie that intends to leave you feeling good afterwards, but one that is well worth the wild ride it promises.

Inventive, sharply written and darkly fascinating, its deliberately surrealist sound design and claustrophobic, string heavy score are extremely effective in keeping the audience unnerved and engaged.

If you are up for a flawlessly acted, hugely character-driven dark dive into power and its dangerous effect on people and relationships, then buckle in because “The Favourite” is a beautifully unpleasant, utterly fierce juggernaut of a film.

MORTAL ENGINES

Reviewed by Anderson Templeton

“Mortal Engines” is awesome.

At least, it is while you are watching it.

I haven’t had this much fun watching a movie since, well, since “Into the Spider-verse”

But that’s another story.

As a film nerd, I love constructively critiquing intriguing films, and there’s definitely a lot to critique about this one. But the more I try and analyze “Mortal Engines,” the further away I’m pulled from the rip-roaring ridiculous good time I had while actually watching it.

One of the things that made this film so awesome to experience was how many female bad-asses there were. In most action-adventures of this kind, these archetypes are always men, but not “Mortal Engines.”

The lethal rebel vigilante? Female! The scary brooding anti-hero who guides our innocent, clueless (male) lead through the dangerous unknown? Female! The brilliant child-of-the-antagonist who discovers his plot and helps take him down?

Female!

So, you know, go, girl power!

Moral of the story, if you can turn off your academic inner critic for two hours, and you want an adventure that’s got some refreshing updates to the norm, you’re going to have a blast-and-a-half with “Mortal Engines.”