★★★☆☆

Robert the Bruce was really more of a heavy 2.5 stars. You can watch it for free on Tubi. I added it to my watch list without reading much about it. There were guys hacking with swords so worth a watch for free.

Someone wanted you to have amazing sympathy for Robert. They play up on the hardships he went through and they add in a loving Scottish mother trying to raise her young.

The Problem with Robert the Bruce

We have all seen Braveheart. If you have seen Braveheart, you know that this particular Robert is the son of the piece of shit suffering from leprosy that betrays William Wallace.

Robert the Bruce betrays William Wallace

You just can’t have sympathy for the dude, even all these years later. Braveheart was a massive hit in 1995 and you can find it on some station most weeks out of the year. Once you make the connection you just don’t like this dude.

Suffers From Low Budget

I have no idea what the official numbers are, but this movie looks and acts like a movie one tried to put out for $7 million or less. You can do fine work in that price range with a small cast, but you have to make it a character based movie. When your audience believes your champion is a turd, that philosophy kind of falls apart.

There is a bit of sword and arrow play in this film. That’s the other reason I believe it falls into this price range. Some of it the camera work was too close and the action blurred/snapped too much. This is mostly at the beginning, perhaps to help make you upset with the movie?

If You Know Nothing About the Story

This could be an enjoyable pizza and bottle of wine movie. Zack McGowan of Black Sails fame has a role and delivers. Anna Hutchinson does a fantastic job as the loving mother raising children that were not hers as if they were hers. You can also find her in Vengeance: A Love Story.

Here you have a widow and these children, several approaching adulthood, living way far from “the village” and making the best of it. They have a little farming operation near a stream and the oldest daughter is fantastic with a bow for hunting. They put up one of “the king’s deer” to help feed them for the winter.

The soldiers that try to collect the bounty on Robert stumble in and cause some trouble before the family discovers Robert himself. Despite the loss of many kin-folk, they are loyal believers in the king. They heal and shelter him. They show him what he lost, the taste of freedom.

Summary

If you are young, or simply have never seen any of the stuff I mentioned, you actually might enjoy this movie. My life had too much experience to give it a higher rating.

For more movie rental ideas please see list one and list two.