Mary Queen of Scots 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Mary Queen of Scots 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Martin Liebman February 20, 2019

Anyone looking for a history lesson in 16th century Western European politics and the monarchy would be wiser to pick up a respected history text than to watch Mary Queen of Scots, first-time Director Josie Rourke's very lax, liberal, and laborious telling of the tale of how the title character fought for her place on the throne, championed religious freedom, and did not stand in the way of social change and tolerance. The film makes a point to blend 1500s historical narrative truths with modern and more accessible story supports meant to play up to 2018 sensibilities. More than happy to be the next in line for follow-the-leader, a game that so many of today's period costume dramas so willingly play, Scots makes an effort to connect the past with the present not through historical fact but by way of recognizable character beats and proclaiming its proclivities as a priority, strict adherence to historical fact be damned. That and vying for those precious Oscar nods for costume and makeup that, yes, Mary Queen of Scots received. It's a paint-by-numbers movie, concerned with marking off modern day human interest checklists rather than building a compelling historically grounded drama.

At a young age, Mary Stuart (Saoirse Ronan) was sent to Catholic France from Scotland, where Protestants were battling for control of the country. At age 15, she marries into French royalty, the man who would be king. Three years later, she is a widow and returns to Protestant Scotland that is governed by her half-brother to reclaim her throne. She also has claim to the English throne, currently held by her cousin Elizabeth I (Margot Robbie), and Mary is seen as a threat to the English crown. The film follows Mary’s journey, seeking to rule beyond tradition, as she bears a child and gains inroads to her cousin’s throne. Meanwhile, Elizabeth, without husband or child, struggles to maintain her power.

Mary Queen of Scots digs into the juicy political, social, and sexual maneuvers of its day, how the battle for royal supremacy -- manipulated and fought more along the support periphery around Mary and Elizabeth by their male handlers than directly between the sovereigns -- shaped world history. It's all a complex morass of political, cultural, and religious moving parts, not to mention the various family feuds, that all feel distant and amplified for effect. Had the film changed a few names and its setting would most viewers be any the wiser? The story finds most of its red meat in how the various differences set the world around the cousins ablaze, literally and figuratively alike. Whether that be religion or the contrast of Elizabeth's life as a sickly maiden and Mary's fulfillment in motherhood, Mary Queen of Scots does at least paint a fairly vivid portrait of two contrasting individuals and how their lives and viewpoints extend beyond to so prominently and deeply influence the larger world around them. But even at its various dramatic high points, the film cannot escape the core vapidity that holds it back, vapidity that very clearly rises more aggressively from the inside out rather than from the outside in.

Indeed, the film's externals are of high value, at least in isolation. Costumes, makeup, and set design are resplendent, all representing everything one could dream of in a period piece. These niceties are not enough to warrant a watch -- there are far better movies with equally gorgeous constructs -- but if there are one or two silver linings, this is one of them. The other comes in the relationship between Mary and Elizabeth and the character portrayals. Saoirse Ronan and Margot Robbie are very good together, even if they share no screen time together beyond the manufactured finale. Simply through strength of writing, performance, and the film's editing, the audience can sense the bond between the cousins that exists despite the internal and external factors puling them apart. In a movie that is largely an empty costume, dramatically, it does engage at the very core of the relationship quite nicely, which has the negative of having to sift through the surrounding fluff and distractions in order to appreciate the hints of artistry that engage the film at its center.

Mary Queen of Scots 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc. Watch for 4K screenshots at a later date.

Mary Queen of Scots on UHD enjoys increase to both detail and color over the companion day-and-date Blu-ray. Improvements to sharpness are immediately obvious. The image finds a fairly significant gain in textural precision, adding an organic definition and clarity that leave the Blu-ray appearing a little soft by comparison. The increases extend throughout the film, from roughhewn castle walls to natural terrain details, from freckles and pox to various examples of period attire. More intimate skin details, more revealing costume elements, and firmer environmental textures all contribute to a much more agreeable add to definition and depth. The Dolby Vision grading gives far greater balance to the film's colors. While there's still an airiness to parts of the picture, a feel of raised blacks in some darker interiors, contrast is much more pronounced throughout the film, with shades appearing both deeper and more radiant at the same time. The standout colors -- the blue dresses, the red hair, the natural greens -- are the most obvious beneficiaries, of course, but earthen backgrounds and dense grays and dark blues, which are prominent colors throughout the movie, also bear the fruit of increased depth and color detail. Whites are brighter and crisper, skin tones more radiant, and highlights more revealing. There's vastly superior color definition and distinction on the UHD, which offers one of the more startling increases in image stability and color rendering over Blu-ray so far in 2019. The end result is a healthy, gorgeous, very cinematic image that is the unquestionable finest home video release of the film and one of the nicer looking UHDs on the market.

Mary Queen of Scots 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The included Dolby Atmos soundtrack is the perfect compliment to the UHD's striking 4K/Dolby Vision visuals. The track opens with considerable space and clarity on a shore three minutes in, with rushing waves pounding the sides and spilling through the channels, seagulls noisily flying around and above, and general background din creating a truly immersive sonic landscape. It's one of several scenes that deliver high yield and highly involved sound elements, reproducing the film's occasionally complex sound design with striking ease and commanding authority. A battle scene in chapter 10 delivers a chaotic maelstrom of clanking swords, screaming combatants, a few cracking guns, and even some animal cries. Each of these elements play together in harmonious mayhem to fully draw the listener into the moment. A good low end pronouncement extends into the stage when an explosion rocks a room and the subsequent fire spreads in chapter 15. Lighter elements are also impressive. There's an amazing sense of space within castle walls. Frequent realistic reverb blends with some modest, but crucial, overhead definition which helps give shape to the area. Music is triumphantly large, with enveloping surround integration and precision clarity. Dialogue is clear and detailed with firm front-center placement.

Mary Queen of Scots 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The UHD disc houses the same supplements as found on the bundled Blu-ray disc. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is also included with purchase. This release ships with an embossed slipcover.

• An Epic Confrontation (2160p, SDR, 3:58): A piece focusing on the face-to-face meeting (which "deviates form history") between the cousins as seen towards film's end.
• Tudor Feminism (2160p, SDR, 3:35): A discussion of how the characters are desperate to be friends and bond together, despite the forces working against their relationship.
• Something About Marys (2160p, SDR, 2:24): A look at the bond shared amongst the actresses who played the many Marys in the film.
• Audio Commentary: Director Josie Rourke and Composer Max Richter begin, unsurprisingly, on how Richter's music influenced Rourke's early work on the film. A good portion of the track, of course, covers music, but the participants also discuss story elements, characters and performances, and more. The track is well spoken and should please fans.

Mary Queen of Scots 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mary Queen of Scots is a drag of a film. It's overlong, overplayed, and unwilling to tell its story in a more traditional context, instead choosing to go the "safe" route and make a 500-year-old story more accessible to modern audiences by telling an aged tale in a more approachable context that almost goes out of its way to champion modern ideas and thought processes. It's not so much that that's a problem from an artistic perspective, but the real problem is that the film plays for that purpose so strictly and wantonly that it all but forgets to accomplish anything of value beyond. It's an empty picture, gracefully constructed from the outside, nicely acted, and probably deserving of its costume and makeup Oscar nods, but the film proper is not of any particular value and certainly not worth the two hour investment. That said, Universal's UHD delivers beautiful 4K/Dolby Vision video paired with a terrific Atmos soundtrack. Supplements include three fluff featurettes and a solid audio commentary track. The movie is not great, but the UHD is terrific and its A/V qualities make the package worth a look.