Review of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) by Henrik S — 22 Jan 2010

As much as I like Kevin Costner and he suits the role of Robin Hood (at least in Reynold's vision of Robin Hood), the movie was rather unsatisfying. Maybe I expected something else. The 1991 Robin Hood is at its heart a bow to the old Sword&Sandal movies a la Fairbanks and Flynn. Lots of Slapstick scenes and everything is funny or lighthearted, the only thing missing is people starting to sing out of the blue. I do like my campy cinema as the next one, but the legend of Robin Hood has so much good ole' Anglican grim to offer, it is a shame to turn it into a theme park ride. Even rape and torture are subject to jokes in the movie, clearly a step to far for my taste. The characters are grotesque and burleseque and thus, the movie always remains on a goofy Disney level, featuring big-nosed lanky villains, fat priests and big-bearded moron celts. I know Robin Hood is a legend, but it is a historical legend and should be treated as such. The set design is awful, like a children's game show. Green neon lights in the water, floodlights in the wood and so forth, yuk ! Costner does what he does best, but unfortunately the movie reduces him to a Gene Kelly-type swashbuckler with no real depth, no Dances with Wolves moments here. Morgan Freeman is good, as always, but his role is very limited as well and evolves around the basic fact that he is a foreigner. Alan Rickman mocks his own character and you can tell that he turned down the role twice, because he clearly thinks the movie is rubbish and tries to fill it up the brim with his bizarre acting, one of the few enjoyable things, Rickman as the flamboyant villain of Hammer Horror proportions. Christian Slater once again proves while nobody in Hollywood knows him anymore, this many truly has got no talent and it hurts my eyes to see him. The music and direction are typical Hollywood fartastic, crap. It is a shame really, a better direction and maybe more corage to depart from schematic characters would have done the movie good. The story goes from here to there, you know it, nothing to surprise anyone. I dont think Gladiator 2, oh sorry, the Robin Hood by Ridley Scott will be any better though, terrible trailer.

Anyway, stay away from it, unless you really want to listen to Bryan Adams's song in score format.

Henrik.