'Robin Hood' Movie Review

This isn't your parents' Robin Hood. Ridley Scott (American Gangster) and screenwriter Brian Helgeland (Green Zone) have given us a Robin Hood prequel of sorts, delving into the backstory of Robin (known as Robin Longstride when we're introduced to him in this 2010 epic tale). This is a Robin Hood film devoid of tights, without mentions of Sherwood Forest, and with barely any stealing from the rich to give to the poor. The men make merry but aren't Merry Men, and Maid Marion is a Lady in this much more serious, intense, and political tale of Robin of the Hood.

What Scott, Helgeland, and star Russell Crowe do with this Robin Hood is play with history and play with our perception of the well-known character. There are a few decent battles and Crowe shows that while he's not in Gladiator fighting shape, he is still capable of selling himself as an action star, but Scott's Robin Hood is strangely, disappointingly short on action. A lot more of a dialogue-driven film than you'd assume from the trailers, this Robin Hood sets up the Robin Hood legend, apparently leaving it up to a sequel to really get into the bravery and good deeds of the expert archer who inspired a group of men to help those in need.

The Story

Robin Longstride is just one of thousands of soldiers serving in King Richard the Lionheart's army when we first catch up with him in Robin Hood. The army's on its way home, but has one more castle to overtake before they can set sail for London. Unfortunately, Robin and a few of his cohorts are forced to sit that final battle out after Robin speaks his mind to King Richard, telling the truth and earning time in the stocks for his honesty. As they can only watch from afar, the King is killed during battle and Robin and his buddies quickly deduce that they must beat a hasty retreat from the area (after being released by a friend) in order to secure transportation back to England before the rest of their fellow soldiers can come to the same conclusion.

But as fate would have it, on their journey to the shore Robin and his men come upon the King's men being ambushed. The group had been charged with transporting the fallen King's crown back to London, and after one of the dying men begs Robin to return his sword to his father (Sir Walter Loxley of Nottingham), Robin and his men forge a plan that will get them home quickly and in style. Trading in their battle worn apparel for the classier outfits of the King's guards, Robin's group masquerades as Sir Robert Loxley and the royal guard, hopping aboard the ship meant to transport the King home.

After returning the crown to the King's mother - and getting nothing in return - Robin and the gang head off to Nottingham to return the sword. Once there, Robin is enchanted by Sir Walter Loxley and the Lady Marion (the now deceased Robert's wife) and agrees to play the part of Robert so that Marion won't lose the family's land once the blind-but-still-capable Walter passes away.

So now we've got Robin and his men set up in Nottingham, Friar Tuck introduced as the new religious leader of the area, and a flirtation going on between the recently widowed Marion and Robin. And while Robin's been running around returning items and setting up house, the newly crowned King John has let his right-hand man Godfrey tear apart the country, opening the gates for an invasion by King Philip of France.

The Bottom Line

Russell Crowe's best scenes in Robin Hood aren't when he's showing off his physical prowess, but come during the quieter scenes he shares with Cate Blanchett as Lady Marion and with Max von Sydow as Sir Walter Loxley. Blanchett and Crowe make for a formidable pair (these two should team up again in something contemporary), and von Sydow's simply brilliant. Kevin Durand, Scott Grimes, and Alan Doyle are terrific as Merry Men, providing most of the film's more lighthearted moments. Mark Strong is, once again, playing a bad guy (just once I'd like to see him used as the hero of a piece) and Strong's Godfrey is so deliciously evil, he's one of the characters who deserved more screen time. But the story's scattered amongst so many players, there's not enough time spent developing anyone other than Robin Hood. And in this incarnation of the classic tale, he's just not all that fascinating.

In fact, if you go into Robin Hood not knowing the title - and if you don't pay close attention to a couple of the characters' names - it's possible to not even realize this is a Robin Hood movie. The story's complicated, politics is front and center without the key players being well defined, and most of what we've come to want from a Robin Hood film is entirely left out. Human rights issues, class wars, and the signing of the Magna Carta come into play during the 140 minute running time - 140 minutes which don't pass nearly swiftly enough.

Scott and Crowe may have set out to give audiences a Robin Hood they've never seen before, but in doing so have discarded what it is that makes for a truly engaging Robin Hood film. Cutting back on a few of the many subplots would have helped, but even with some judicious editing of side stories, this backstory seems unnecessary - especially as it tends to contradict most of the legends surrounding this hero of the poor.

Robin Hood tries to be so much - an epic action film, a romantic tale, a complex analysis of father/son relationships, a political drama - that it's almost set up to fail. That it doesn't fall completely flat is almost entirely due to the strength of Crowe, Blanchett, von Sydow, Strong, and Durand's performances.

GRADE: C+

Robin Hood was directed by Ridley Scott and is rated PG-13 for violence including intense sequences of warfare, and some sexual content.

Theatrical Release: May 14, 2010

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