Review of Robin Hood (2010) by Chads — 18 May 2010

It's just like D-day in Normandy on Omaha Beach, but with bows and arrows, chainmail, and horses, lots and lots of horses. Told through the film language of Steven Spielberg, whose "Saving Private Ryan" deglamourized WWII so that it would reflect the same unspeakable horrors depicted in the canon of Vietnam films, this latest mounting of "Robin Hood" also effectuates the expulsion of any preconceived notions regarding war as romantic, an adventure in the making.

Made for people who like their Batman dark as night, Russell Crowe's brooding take on the role made famous by Errol Flynn(Michael Curtiz's "The Adventures of Robin Hood") will not disappoint, but for the rest of us, seeing the tempestuous Aussie portray this iconic swashbuckler as a haunted mercenary tormented by unanswered questions about his absentee father, will no doubt be off-putting to fable purists familiar with the legendary English outlaw, champion of the penniless(especially Kevin Costner's "surfer dude" interpretation of the Nottingham stalwart in Kevin Reynolds' "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves") as a congenial sort with pacifist leanings.

Unlike past Robin Hoods, this latest model derives some modicum of satisfaction from killing. Essentially, an origin story, the filmmaker places Robin in a historical context(the waged war between the French and English over Plantagenet lands which Phillip II had seized from Richard the Lionheart while England's king was imprisoned), which in turn corrupts the literature(starting with the 1378 long poem "Visions of Piers Plowman") by transforming the subject of innumerable ballads and stories into a 12th century approximation of a combat soldier, who proves to be exceedingly violent on the English coastline during the climactic battle with the encroaching French mauraders.

Although this final confrontation is exceedingly well-staged and exciting, it does have the effect of trivializing Spielberg's intention to honor WWII veterans by stripping the emulative spectacle of its predecessor's "raison d'etre", which entailed more than death for mere entertainment's sake.