The Warrior Queen of Jhansi

Altogether it's a rousing, passionate bit of film-making on a reasonably epic scale, with a cast of hundreds deployed for some big dusty battle scenes, which are duly impressive.

There's little doubt that Rani's story is an engaging and undertold chapter of history, but The Warrior Queen of Jhansi is not the best way to tell it.

Devika is sincere in her portrayal in a simplified narrative that does little more than follow the form of a school essay on the Indian warrior queen.

The pounding hooves that whisk us through the pre-credit montage recall the manner of storytelling audiences lapped up throughout the '60s, but which is now the stuff that Hallmark Channel dramas are made of.

Swati Bhise's old-fashioned historical epic is sincere but unexciting.

One wonders how Everett got mixed up in this mess.

This potentially exciting, inspiring tale drowns in a sea of predictable action beats and frightening facial fungus.

A functional period tale with a good bit to reveal about an inspiring historical figure.

For the lack of good acting, mostly resulting from poor dialogue, the movie at least manages to represent its characters as genuinely believable figures of a real history. That's the least you can ask for from a historical biopic.

While the film certainly looks fine, it lacks the grit and gumption that such an epic story demands. Most of all, it doesn't quite make Laxmibai the all-guns blazing hero that she was.