May 14th, 2010 -- Written by Rodney
Thanks for checking out our Robin Hood review.
Genre: Action Drama
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Staring: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, William Hurt, Mark Strong, Mark Addy, Kevin Durand, Scott Grimes, Alan Doyle
Released: May 14, 2010
THE GENERAL IDEA
Robin Longstride, an Archer in King Richard the Lionheart’s Crusades, takes advantage of the confusion around Lionheart’s death to escape his duty with a band of loyal soldiers in hopes of returning to his homeland to live out a quiet existance. When he returns however, he swears to a fallen soldier (Robin of Loxley) to return his father’s sword in Nottingham.
THE GOOD
This toys with the historical records of who may or may not have been Robin Hood. But they are not attempting to be historically accurate. But unlike films like King Arthur, the “inconsistencies” that we have learned in various incarnations of the Robin Hood story, the changes make sense. And they work. I can’t get into detail without spoilers, so just trust me. When something you see in the trailer doesn’t make sense (his name is Longstride…not Loxley.. its ok) it does in the movie.
Blanchett is as appropriate as always. She plays the role great and does Marion justice without making her seem the helpless damsel in distress that Robin has to save.
I also like that Robin does become what we expect, just not how we expect it to happen. I was very pleased with how they develop the story so that this would stand out as a different telling of the Robin Hood story. And it works. The story is very good.
His band of “merry men” are his loyal men at arms, like brothers. But they have enough personality to be recognized for who they are, but still blend enough into the story that they don’t stand out.
THE BAD
The movie is too long, and developes very slowly. The trailer does a good job of keeping you in the dark about what is really going on. But they could have got to the meat of it better. It drags on in parts and doesn’t deserve its long run time.
I expected more out of Mark Strong as the manipulative Godfrey who is manipulating Prince John, and is helping the King of France to invade England. His character was appropriately evil but I just didnt find him menacing at all. He wasn’t a good villain, just a badguy.
There was a subplot introduced that many of the orphaned children have been hiding in the Greenwood of Nottingham (presumably Sherwood Forest) fleeing their own villages and mothers and stealing from people. Completely unneccessary and never used until the very end and they didn’t need to be there.
The big epic battle is anticlimatic, but at least it wasn’t a Hollywood stereotype. Still i would have liked to see more action, but its over very fast. If you see this, you will know why its over fast, but that could have been a line of dialogue instead of a whole battle scene.
OVERALL
This is very much an origin story of Robin Hood, and he doesn’t actually do much of the common Robin Hood “rob from the rich and give to the poor” stuff. This does leave off into sequel potential, and if they make another I would be interested to see how it goes. This wasn’t a terrible film, but it wasn’t great either. I am right on the fence with this one.
I give Robin Hood a 5 out of 10
Posted in 
I’m not interested in the movie at all. Russel Crowe already starred in this
I assure you, this is NOT at all like Gladiator.
He did not already do this movie.
dude gladiator was amazing though
my uncle named my cousin after russel crowes character
but we all just call him Max
Oh, ok
James-gladiator was awesome but crowe is great enough to get more diverse roles
that is the same way i felt after seeing this movie too
Just saw it, it’s good on developing the story, as we know what Robin was and would become, his sidekicks also interesting ones, they almost scene stealer, what i don’t like is some parts of stories feel rushed, especially on third act. Also the bad guy doesn’t interest me to say the least, some of the characters doesn’t leave me much impressions too.
As for Robin and Marion, both Russel and Cate always deliver, although their romance interaction feel.. again, too rushed and on certain degree, lacking chemistry
i was going to see this till I realized the new Micheal Caine movie was playing and I went to see that instead. Best decision I’ve made in a while. Rodney, check out Harry Brown. Talk about a great film about street violence. Visceral, intense, sad, but so exciting. Caine was outstanding in this.
Robin Hood is my favorite of the famous mythological figures (King Arthur, Robin Hood, ect), so I’ll watch, and be excited to watch, anything even remotely-related to Robin Hood, including the SyFy Movie-of-The-Week ‘Beyond Sherwood Forrest’, so naturally I can’t wait until I get the chance to go see this.
I went to see this Friday night and wound up having to leave early, due to my companion being ill. I didn’t mind that we had to leave early. The movie — what I saw of it — was not bad at all. It just didn’t EXCITE me at all. The story developed incredibly slowly. And Crowe was fine, but utterly charmless, humorless; his character is bleak and dull and gray.
So how does it compare to the early 90’s classic “Robin Hood: Price of Thieves”? Because despite the lack of British accents from some key players, I’ve always thought that flick was sweet.
Any bad-ass Moors? Catapulting Costners? Brian Adams ballads?
How does it stack up?
Its a completely different film. And despite the two having inspiration from the same legendary tale, there is no comparisons.
This is more like Robin Hood, Year One. I have lowered expectations and enjoyed the movie. I think it suffered with the Spider-man 3 curse. Too many villians. Although it may not be Citizen Cane, Scott’s prowess behind the camera is in full display. I love his wide camera shots on battles (Cavalry riding down to the beach at the end and Robins’ ride to Nottingham to save the citizens) Excellent camera work as Robin rides toward the center on Nottingham. It follows him with a steady camera as he rides his steed.
Why does every film have to be “Citizen Cane”
I wasn’t at all impressed or moved by that film, and I despise people using it as a benchmark for film quality.
There wasn’t “too many villains”. There was one. The French. Godfrey was an agent/spy for the French King and everything that transpired was to facilitate the French invasion.
The ‘bad guy” I saw in the trailers looked like he came off set of a Puerto Rican version of “Fast and the Furious”
Looked bad.
Thanks for the review Rodney