While the final scene of Braveheart made it seem like Robert the Bruce's fight for the Scottish throne was quick and easy, built entirely on the past successes of William Wallace, this movie makes it clear it was neither. The price for Scottish independence was high.

Outlaw King is not a Braveheart sequel, although it picks up shortly before the events of Braveheart's end. The spotlight this time is on Robert Bruce, Earl of Carrick and one of the foremost candidates for the Scottish crown. He's ably played here by a bearded and graying Chris Pine.

The made-for-Netflix movie opens with a single camera shot that lasts for several minutes, moving inside and out, establishing the scene and introducing many of the major characters. It's an impressive cinematic feat, and I can't help but wonder how many takes it required to complete.

Outlaw King, while not the Hollywood spectacle of Braveheart, purports to be a more accurate version of historical events, and it certainly seems to live up to that claim (although, let's be honest, plenty of details were still changed in the script). Bruce's efforts to win the crown from an unyielding English king at times seem truly desperate and hopeless.

The film is sometimes brutal, such as the sudden execution of Bruce's Uncle Neil, and it clearly shows the price so many people paid for supporting the Bruce's claim to the crown. (It's also worth noting the only visual appearance of William Wallace in this movie is of his sundered parts on display.)

And it manages to shoehorn in a love story; Florence Pugh stars as Bruce's second wife Elizabeth, who proves to be a strong and suitable mate for the would-be king ... although not without her own share of personal tragedy. The romantic aspects are not as dramatically focused as Wallace's marriage to Murron or his fling with Princess Isabelle were in Braveheart; it is simply a part of the narrative that fits neatly into the overarching storyline.

The final battle is savage and filthy and violent and feels very, very real.

Anyone who enjoyed Braveheart should watch Outlaw King to set the record straight. It's not perfect, but it's very good.

Oh, the movie also does an excellent job of spotlighting the gorgeous Scottish countryside, although at the time depicted it would have been more wooded than shown here.

Besides Pine and Pugh, the movie boasts a fine cast to populate the Scottish and English factions, notably Stephen Dillane as King Edward I of England, Billy Howle as his son Edward, Prince of Wales, Tony Curran as Lord Angus Og Macdonald of Islay, Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the revenge-driven James Douglas, and others.