Review of Robin Hood (2010) by Joshua P — 13 Nov 2011

A Robin Hood remake... how doesn't that sound good? I mean, the last one we got was the one with Kevin Costner, right? (not counting Men In Tights, though that was much better than Prince of Thieves). And even better, it's being helmed by the great Ridley Scott (Gladiator...enough said). So the answer is A) Correct: I did see this on opening day, but nonetheless!... not all movies can be gold. The few flaws...#1: Russel Crowe. Now, I understand Crowe is Scott's butt-buddy as Deniro was to Scorsese and as DiCaprio is to Scorsese... and don't get me wrong... I love Crowe. After Gladiator, A Beautiful Mind and Cinderella Man, Crowe could sell me with anything... but last time I checked, Robin Hood was supposed to be a young man... if not an older boy. and if I'm not mistaken, Russ aint so young anymore.. not to mention his chemistry with Cate Blanchett wasn't bad... the two just seemed... too old for their parts. They gave great performances, but they didn't quite fit the part as best as it could have fit. The second thing was the execution behind the idea. Now, maybe it was in the previews and I just missed it... but I had no idea this movie was a back story to Robin Hood before he was Robin Hood... it's like taking the idea of Batman Begins and applying it to Robin Hood... which sounds cool, but I didn't know this going in, so I was very confused by some plot points that were very against the original Hood mythos (yes, the Hood mythos)... so, if you're expecting the Robin Hood you know and love... this aint it. That doesn't necessarily make it bad. It's interesting how the end of the movie sets up the beginning of the story everybody knows. But as for the movie itself, especially for Ridley Scott, the story is bland, the characters aren't very well established... you wouldn't even know Robin Hood was supposed to be a master archer unless you knew that about the character going in... I mean, there's a cool battle sequence at the end, but that's expected from Mr. Scott.

*Alternative: The only other version of Hood that's really worth watching, besides Men In Tights, is the Disney cartoon... with the fox... yes, it is still number one in my book.