With movie theaters closed and streaming consumption booming, there’s plenty of content you can view at home these days. Thankfully, I was able to screen this weekend’s biggest new video on-demand film releases early in order to gauge whether they’re worth your time and money.
Below you’ll find micro-reviews of three notable new digital releases, each of which portrays fact-based characters who operated outside of the boundaries of the law.
There’s Ned Kelly — think of him as Australia’s Jesse James, but with a suit of armor — and Robert the Bruce, Scotland’s “outlaw king” who’s played here by the same actor who portrayed him in Braveheart.
Finally, there’s a new HBO true crime drama, Bad Education, which is garnering Hugh Jackman some of his best reviews in years.
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True History of the Kelly Gang
- VOD Date: April 24
- Available on Amazon, GooglePlay, YouTube, Vudu, iTunes, PlayStation, Xbox, Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum (Charter, Time Warner, Brighthouse), Verizon Fios, Altice (Optimum), Cox, DirecTV, AT&T, Bend Broadband, Buckeye, Guadalupe Valley, Hotwire Communications, Metrocast, Suddenlink, WOW Internet Cable, RCN, Midcontinent Communications
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True History of the Kelly Gang is a gripping, atmospheric approach to the legend of Australia’s most notorious outlaws with its tense pacing and unsettling, relentless score keeping the viewer on edge throughout and an aesthetic that is both grungy and grand, intense yet intimate.
Actors from Mick Jagger to Heath Ledger have portrayed Ned Kelly in a number of films over the years, some of those movies faring better than others. Coming off of his acclaimed turn in the stellar 1917, George MacKay once again impresses, making Kelly a tightly coiled, dangerous yet still emotionally accessible punk. Russell Crowe humanizes his rather grotesque mentor figure — and sings an incredibly vulgar yet funny song to children at one point — while Essie Davis is the fierce, wounded heart of the film as Ned’s mother. Nicholas Hoult and Charlie Hunnam both impress as the entitled lawmen who plague the Kellys, each using their positions of power and social status to lord over the family.
Director Justin Kurzel’s anachronistic yet poetic style is reminiscent of Alex Cox’s films from the ‘80s, so it will likely prove challenging for some viewers to embrace. The dramatic license taken here — especially in the film’s attempt to be modern and political in its sensibilities — will also likely prove a bridge too far for those who know the real history of Ned Kelly, even if the film makes it clear from the get-go that it’s not interested in the “True History” so much as being a character study like The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. While I’m still not sure True History of the Kelly Gang ultimately delivered its message clearly, I certainly appreciated it employing an off-kilter approach rather than traveling a safe and familiar route.
SCORE: 8.0
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Robert the Bruce
- VOD Date: April 24
- Available on Amazon, AppleTV, GooglePlay, FandangoNOW, iTunes, Xbox, PlayStation, VUDU, DirecTV, AT&T Uverse, Altice, Comcast, Cox, Spectrum, Verizon FiOS
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Angus Macfayden reprises his role from Braveheart as the 14th century Scottish rebel-king Robert the Bruce, but viewers expecting a rousing, freeeeeedom!!-loving epic like that bloody Mel Gibson classic will likely be disappointed by this surprisingly low-key, small-scale drama. Robert the Bruce lacks any massive battles like those depicted in the 1995 Best Picture winner or even in 2018’s Outlaw King, which also chronicled the Bruce’s life and campaigns.
Macfayden’s thoughtful performance aims to demystify this legendary figure, as we see him mostly on the run throughout the film and struggling with doubt. The story is really about what he represents to his fellow Scots, from the other lords who have their own agendas to a family of commoners he finds refuge with. This less epic, more intimate approach is an interesting idea but in a stage play, “bottle episode” sort of way but, again, if you’re expecting Braveheart 2 you may find the film a bit of a chore as it’s more for the drama and history-minded.
Visually, Robert the Bruce also seems to be consciously avoiding Braveheart comparisons (despite the casting of Macfayden) by foregoing vistas the green fields and rocky moors of medieval Scotland in favor of a bleak, wintry landscape where nature is as much a foe to face as rival clans or the English.
SCORE: 6.0
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Bad Education
Hugh Jackman delivers one of his most nuanced performances in HBO’s Bad Education, a different sort of true crime movie. Inspired by the larceny scandal that rocked the Roslyn, New York school district in the early 2000s, Jackman portrays superintendent Frank Tassone, who was eventually busted for embezzling millions. The film generates some sympathy for Tassone by portraying him as a veteran educator who wants only the best for his students. Problem is, he wanted the best for himself, too.
This is a tautly-paced, very human study of everyday people harboring big secrets. And it’s not just Tassone and his fellow Roslyn employees — namely Allison Janney’s scammer and Ray Romano’s status-minded school board president — who are solely to blame for this giant mess. There are also entitled parents who demand preferential treatment for their not particularly gifted kids, parents whose real estate values are directly tied to their school district’s inflated success.
As directed by Cory Finley, Bad Education is a tragicomic portrait of an ecosystem fed by ambition and greed, populated by people seeking greater status whether they’ve earned it or not. Jackman is exceptional as this circus’s ringmaster who convinces himself and all those in his orbit that he’s precisely the person they require to realize all their grand ambitions.
SCORE: 8.0
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Jim Vejvoda is IGN’s Executive Editor of Movies. Follow him at @JimVejvoda.
Source: IGN.com Kings & Criminals: 3 New VOD Movies to Stream This Weekend