In 1306, Scotland's new King- Robert the Bruce (Angus MacFadyen)- is fleeing the English army after a crushing defeat at Strath-Fillan. Soon he finds himself injured and alone as he was betrayed by his own men who want to collect the price on his head. He finds shelter in the house of a widowed peasant (Anna Hutchinson) where she tends to Robert's wounds and he bounds with her family. He must find his faith again to be the King of Scotland.

ROBERT THE BRUCE is a dream project that took 12 years for Angus MacFadyan to make. He was so in love with the character of Robert the Bruce since he first played him in BRAVEHEART. After four years of not being able to raise the funds for it, the script was paired down into this small character driven film. ROBERT THE BRUCE was filmed in Montana and Scotland. The US state of Montana was able to double for parts of Scotland where the winters aren't as harsh as Montana's and it was done for economical reasons. I would have loved to see the bigger vision that Angus MacFadyen, but many times getting a movie made requires many comprises including making it for a smaller budget and losing some of the story you originally wanted to tell. The movie is beautifully shot with good action choreography and character development. If you're looking for a bigger film and more about ROBERT THE BRUCE, you will probably have to watch OUTLAW KING on Netflix (which hasn't received a disc release yet- hopefully the movie gets licensed out to Criterion).

SPECIAL FEATURES:
The sole extra is an audio commentary with director Richard Gray and actor/ co-writer Angus MacFadyen. They talk about how the project evolved and the difficulties the production faced like the weather in Montana and Angus being sick on a few days of the shoot.

No trailer is included on the disc for the movie. A couple of trailers for other releases do play before you get to the main menu.

FINAL ANALYSIS: ROBERT THE BRUCE is a well-shot and acted character study. If you don't want to wait for the near future North American disc release from Screen Media, this UK disc can play on North American blu-ray players despite the case saying it is Region B only. The only thing I wish this release had a subtitles track (something that Screen Media probably won't have either).

This review is (c) 3-15-2020 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com and check for further content at http://enterlinemedia.tumblr.com