The film is filled with fun and adventure, allowing the audience an escape to another time and place in history. Exciting and fast-paced, viewers experience the journey of a legendary hero as he plots against the greed and corruption of the king. This is a film that will live on in the imaginations of movie goers for decades to come, iconic and memorable, immortalizing the outlaw with a penchant for doing good.
Now that I’ve invoked visions of Disney’s 1973 classic animated film, let’s discuss Ridley Scott’s 2010 live action ROBIN HOOD. Ridley Scott is a filmmaker whose career in the 80’s produced such indisputable classics as ALIEN, BLADE RUNNER and LEGEND… which led to a modest, yet less fantastic run in the 90’s, and has leveled out to a currently uneven rate of success since GLADIATOR in 2000. As much as it pains me to say it, ROBIN HOOD may turn out to be one of, if not his least accomplished films to date. With that said, I once felt the same about KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, until I watched it again in the director’s cut and found myself with foot in mouth. However, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN is a far more ambitious and solid film as a whole than ROBIN HOOD could ever hope to become with multiple viewings. One could suggest that the failure of this film began with the rewrite, but the script is only the beginning. From there, and as part of the rewriting process, the direction of the film takes the lump sum of the blame for this 140-minute snore fest.
Upon entering the theater, throw all notions of the classical Robin Hood lore out the window, for little of it will apply here. On one level, the film appears to be an unsuccessful and unwanted attempt at a Robin Hood prequel, spending the majority portion of the first two hours shuffling aimlessly through a weak back story for Robin “of the hood” Longstride, played by Russell Crowe, that is worth it’s weight in fool’s gold. Eventually, this relatively uneventful story dissolves into a slowly developing romance of convenience between Robin and Lady Marion, played by Cate Blanchett.
ROBIN HOOD opens with the journey home of King Richard the Lionheart (played by Danny Huston) and his crusading army, plundering their way through France in an effort to recover any riches possible after squandering the royal wealth in a pointless holy war. Robin Longstride is an archer in King Richard’s army, fighting closely alongside fellow soldiers and friends Will Scarlet, played by Scott Grimes, and Little John, played by Kevin Durand. When the king is killed in battle, Robin and his “merry men” set off on their own path, anticipating chaos in an unstable England. Now that we’ve met the “good guys” let’s have a go at the “bad guys” in the story, beginning with Prince John, played by Oscar Isaac, whose immature desire for power clouds his judgment and blinds him to the true motives of his lifelong friend Godfrey, played by Mark Strong. Godfrey has been up to no good and plotting dastardly things. As this plot unfolds, Robin and his merry men, with the help of Friar Tuck, played by Mark Addy, find themselves the force of change with Robin at the helm.
Unfortunately, all this intrigue and back stabbing and plotting takes far too long to develop, often resulting in unbearably boring stretches of inactivity between the rare snippets of onscreen interest. Even the scenery is less than stimulating most of the time, whereas one would expect glorious forests within which Robin and his followers hide and do their thieving, but the visual style is kept mostly dull and washed out, as is likely the case in England, but adds nothing to the efforts of keeping the audience awake. The film also has some strange and unnecessary story elements, such as a band of young boys introduced early on and sporadically and briefly reappearing, until their presence is explained as mostly useless and a tad silly in the end.
With all this negativity, I feel it’s necessary to point out the one positive aspect of ROBIN HOOD. While the pacing, plot and length were all detrimental, the casting and ultimately the performances were pretty close to perfect. Cate Blanchett embodies my vision of what Lady Marion should be, a far better choice than the original option of Sienna Miller, a decent actress in her own right, but no Blanchett. Kevin Durand (SMOKIN’ ACES, 3:10 TO YUMA) was a brilliant choice as Little John, capturing both the physical and personality traits of the character flawlessly. Danny Huston’s performance as King Richard the Lionheart, while brief, was believable and engaging. As always, Mark Strong (SHERLOCK HOLMES, KICK-ASS) thoroughly personifies the villain, rich with the details and intricacies that bring his characters to life. Even Mark Addy from television’s STILL STANDING does his part with subtle comic relief as Friar Tuck. The cast rounds out with veteran actors Max Von Sydow as Sir Walter Loxley and William Hurt as Marshall.
With such a wonderful cast, it’s shameful that the film lacked any real significance or depth. In the end, ROBIN HOOD feels like an extended courtship between Robin and Marion, lengthened with needless filler and a lack of originality. The big climatic battle scene, the petty payoff for staying awake through the first two hours, makes up the final thirty minutes and feels shockingly similar to the first thirty minutes of another, more modern war film. Overall, ROBIN HOOD is 120 minutes of movie that induce cravings for caffeine that places all of it’s action in the final thirty minutes and ends in a way, well… let’s just say that Ridley Scott’s ROBIN HOOD ends the way it should have begun.
Overall Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
