“Following the Crusades, a loyal knight returns to his home to find it run by a tyrannical king. He joins forces with a band of renegades to fight back”
Expectations were high walking into this one, there was a lot of press surrounding this film such as the Premiere at The Cannes Film Festival. The whole “Steal from the Rich and Give to the Poor” sort of plot line which I really expected was totally overlooked, instead this was more like an Origins Story. Rumour has it that when Universal Studios acquired the script called Nottingham, Russell Crowe signed on to depict the heroic Sheriff of Nottingham but Ridley wasn’t happy with the script so it was forced into re-writes which turned it into the story of Robin Hood becoming an outlaw.
The film has its good and bad points, I thought the supporting cast to Russell and Cate Blanchett was fantastic including Kevin Durand and Scott Grimes as part of the Merry Men. Danny Huston (30 Days of Night) plays King Richard and lastly Mark Addy (A Knight’s Tale) as the Hilarious Friar Tuck who’s slightly obsessed with bees and honey. As usual Ridley gets the visuals sensational, there’s a certain battle scene on a beach with an overlooking cliff that just looks amazing. Funnily enough when I got home I re-watched Kevin Costners Robin Hood and you actually see the same Beach and Cliff in that movie.
ROBIN HOOD just lacked a lot of elements, there were certain plot points in the film which I didn’t really agree with as I have read Crowe and Scott really researched like crazy to try and get it as accurate as possible but I dunno It just felt like this robin hood story let me down. As I said earlier the Robin Hood we all know Stole from the rich and gave to the Poor, there was none of this in the film and to me personally that’s one of the greatest things that makes Robin Hood and we never got to see that. Plus it felt that within the script there were moments that we just listed as “Get Drunk and Sing” because at some random times of the movie everyone will be singing and dancing around the Merry Men, and there was just no point to it.
The Standouts in this film were Kevin Durand and Mark Addy they were both sensational, Kevin is also in another film coming out soon called “Legion” starring opposite Paul Bettany. Mark Addy the British comic throws his version of Friar Tuck in the Mix and most of his scenes are quite hilarious. Cate Blanchett also deserves a mention as the fearless Marion Loxley, even though I feel this wasn’t a very strong role for her she did shine in most moments when she was onscreen.
ROBIN HOOD obviously has an opening for a sequel it will be really interesting if they could actually get this entire cast back together for another one, we shall have to wait and see on Box Office results to answer that question. Funnily enough the sequel is the movie I want to see, I want to see that Robin Hood as I said earlier, I suppose that’s why I enjoyed re-watching Robin Hood – Prince of Thieves more. Lastly I will say that some of the other people I watched this with really enjoyed it, it was a different story then we know and in some aspects finding out the man behind the legend is a good thing. I’m looking forward to hearing all your thoughts…..
ROBIN HOOD is in Theatres everywhere today, I give this film 3 out of 5 Stars.