terrible... so disappointed.

Pretty Good

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Scotland remains engulfed in its own history. One can see simply from the landscape that it is an ancient land, of many events and peoples that have led to its creation. One of its most ancient symbols is the Stone of Scone, which was present at every Scottish crowning ceremony until Edward the First (the arch villain in "Braveheart") stole it and brought it to England. In the 1950's a group of patriotic youths hatched a plan to steal it back for Scotland.The film is quirky and serious at the same time. Ian Hamilton is played by a youthful Charlie Cox, who reminded me of Robert Sean Leonard's character in "Dead Poet's Society". He is easygoing in life, but utterly devoted to his country. This sense of patriotism gives him the need to want to do something great for Scotland, and he is inspired by an old scrapbook article to steal back the Stone of Scone, known as the Stone of Destiny in the film.Enrolling his friend Bill (Billy Boyd from "Lord of the Rings") into this scheme, the two of them begin an intensive research into Westminster Abbey to take back the Stone. However, Bill drops out of the plan when he realizes just how much is at stake. Ian bounces back immediately by finding a group of other youths to help him. He recruits Kay for her patriotism, who brings in Gavin for his strength and boisterous personality, who brings in Alan for his extra car.These four embark on a trip to London, and in between the planning of the grand caper, they learn more about themselves in the process. Ian is so steadfast in his own plan that he finds it difficult to realize, as Gavin puts it, that someone else other than him might be right. Gavin himself has been labeled as a party animal and a carefree man that opens bottles with his teeth, and he wonders if he's more than that. Alan is insecure and shy, trying to find something to do that shows people what he's capable of. Kay brings her smarts and her spunky attitude to the group, and on the way develops feelings for Ian on the way. The way they finally acknowledge these feelings for each other is shown in a very funny scene just outside Westminster Abbey.The plan itself was real, as were the four people who underwent the plan. To say that they failed to bring the stone back is both true and false. True, the stone was taken back to England, false because bringing the stone across the border was half the success. The point of the plan was to show the average Scot that they could be proud of their heritage and be able to unshackle themselves from English domination. While this took yet more time after the break-in, it eventually came about.As a film, I enjoyed this very much. The characters were presented very well, particularly the youths and Robert Carlyle's character of an elderly professor who tries to win Scotland's freedom through a petition early in the film and provides funding for the youths to travel to England. British humour has rarely failed for me, and this film was able to show the deep motivations for taking the Stone back while at the same time show how crazy of a scheme it really was.Scotland has certainly need to go to great lengths to show its identity over the years. What other nation's heroes could go from a screaming warrior leading a horde of his countrymen in a bloody battle against the superior English forces to four rebellious youths sneaking through the back door of Westminster Abbey?

Some nice photography but the film is let down by aggravating inaccuracies. Hair is too modern for 1950. Car registration CLS and NLS were never used. Used blatant Glasgow and Edinburgh style streets as Westminster. Women were not frequenters of pubs in the fifties. Westminster bridge with bus lanes and road markings are obviously 21st century. Surely some archive could have been used as no actors were involved. Country roads had no white lines until late fifties. And lastly, police vehicles did not have sirens until the sixties. Police men had whistles and cars had bells. Acting pretty good on the whole and I didn't spot the leading actress' accent as non Scottish (I'm Scot) or any Canadian locations. I'm surprised that the writer didn't notice some of these.

Went to the World Premiere of this film in Edinburgh. The event was quite exciting with a little speech by the director before the film began and Kate Mara, Billie Boyd, Robert Carlyle and Charlie Cox also at the event (and at the Gala Dinner afterwards).The film was a pleasant way to spend 90 minutes and it was quite an enjoyable romp. But I felt unsure about what the film was aiming to be. It wasn't funny enough to call itself a comedy and some of the humour was verging on farce (especially the scenes where the characters are running around the streets of London narrowly missing each other).It wasn't dramatic enough because the characters were on the whole cartoons and I didn't really feel involved or concerned about them - it seemed very "american formula road trip" but set in 1950s UK - nice handsome lead character, funny fat guy with a heart, pretty girl who starts off strong but ends up simply being the love interest for the lead character, and then the geeky skinny non-entity who makes good before the end. There was some tension in the scenes set in Westminster Abbey when they were trying to steel the stone - but you never really believed that they were ever going to be caught (but of course the 50s were years before mobile phones, laser burglar alarms, and burglars abseiling down from ceilings on micro wires.From a political point of view it was pretty full on in its portrayal of the Nationalist movement - but even this didn't feel fully developed and was perhaps more of an attempt to impress Sean Connery who is a staunch advocate of Scottish Independence and was at the Premiere as well as he is Patron of the Edinburgh Film Festival.Despite these comments I did enjoy the film. I probably won't buy the DVD but I may well rent it wen it comes out.

Since around the 9th century, tradition holds that Scottish monarchs took their place upon the Stone of Scone during their coronation ceremony, until 1296 when it was captured by Edward I and placed in Westminster Abbey under a seat upon which English sovereigns were crowned, thereby showing the English power over the Scots. "Stone of Destiny" tells the true story of Ian Hamilton, a young student and nationalist, who was to attempt to return the Stone to its rightful place in Scotland and thereby right a long-standing injustice by the English.The cast is strong and features the likes of Robert Carlyle, Brenda Fricker and Billy Boyd (that "fool of a Took"). However, Charlie Cox once again caught my attention following his leading role in Stardust. Given he is not a native Scot, he makes a great effort at the accent, and again manages to portray his character with a great balance of likability, determination and youthful exuberance, and gives us hope that some of the next generation's leading men can combine acting and looking good... Director Charles Martin Smith does wonderfully in conveying the underdog theme brilliantly with a good balance of action, comedy and emotion. It's a definite feel-good movie, with the people around me clapping at the end. 5 stars, a British gem.