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Bookmark this pageRobin Hood (2010)
Director: Ridley Scott
Synopsis
Ridley Scott tries his hand at a large-scale retelling the olde English legend with his pal Russell Crowe donning the Lincoln green smock.
Movie review
From Time Out London
‘From the director of "Gladiator"!’ scream the posters, and you’d be forgiven for expecting a straight rerun of that Oscar-winning hit - a film that swaps togas and short swords for Lincoln green and feathered arrows. But this ‘Robin Hood’ is a more unpredictable beast: while the shakycam action sequences, effete young villain and moody presence of Russell Crowe hark back to the earlier film, this is far closer to Scott’s ambitious but unloved ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ in its depiction of a world ruled by brute force and striving for moral direction.The opening act could even work as a sequel to that film: fighting his way back from the Crusades in the army of Richard the Lionheart, archer Robin Longstride decides to head for home when the King gets an arrow in the neck. By a series of unbelievable coincidences, Robin finds himself posing as deceased nobleman Robert Locksley, charged with taking news of the Lionheart’s death back to his troublesome brother, the new King John (Oscar Isaac).
This kickstarts the long series of subterfuges, political dirty deals and full-scale treachery that constitute the film’s wildly convoluted story. It's plots aplenty: King John plots against his former Chancellor, Marshall (a stately William Hurt); traitor Godfrey (Mark Strong) plots against John, Robin and the entire English nation in concert with the devious King Philip of France; while Maid Marian (Cate Blanchett) and her ailing father-in-law (Max von Sydow) plot to keep Robin in Nottingham in the guise of the former Lord Locksley.
Confused? You will be. Anyone expecting a straightforward woodland beat-em-up will be bemused and most likely dismayed by the intricacies of the narrative, particularly when it becomes clear that Scott has been forced to trim back the action to fit in all these dastardly goings-on. Add a complete absence of characterisation, some laughable accents (Crowe sounds like he’s auditioning for ‘Coronation Street’) and a sense of history that would make Simon Schama scream, and you’ve got the makings of what should be a tedious, overblown disaster.
But for all his faults, Scott knows what he’s doing. The film looks terrific: the English landscape hasn’t looked so lush and magical for a long time, particularly in a clutch of gorgeous moonlit night scenes. Aesthetically it's convincing, which goes a long way towards offsetting the more nutty convolutions in the plot. And while characterisation has been cut to the bone, Crowe, Blanchett, Strong and especially Von Sydow remain eminently watchable, with strong, likeable support from the likes of Mark Addy as Friar Tuck and Matthew MacFadyen as a marvellously greasy Sheriff of Nottingham.
Best of all, the film just feels huge: genuinely epic in a way few movies have since ‘Lord of the Rings’. The endless plot twists may be perplexing, but they work to make the movie feel eventful and involving: after 140 minutes, audiences will feel like they’ve been somewhere, lived through something. And so, while this ‘Robin Hood’ is a long way from perfect, it remains a satisfyingly immense and old fashioned grand-canvas experience.
Author: Tom Huddleston
Time Out London Issue 2073: May 13-19, 2010
User reviews of this film
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- Drakken said...
- Posted on Sep 26 2010 16:41 Boring, with a script that would embarrass a straight-to-dvd actioner. Prediction: at some point in the next 18months, Ridley Scott will produce the definitive "Director's Cut" with a sour-faced intro by himself, tacitly blaming the studio, just like he did for Kingdom of Heaven.
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- Triar Fruck said...
- Posted on Sep 25 2010 11:23 Flatulent nonsense.
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- garrick huscared said...
- Posted on Sep 17 2010 09:38 I was not expecting much but was actually thrilled to see a well thought out and relatively accurate story. King John was perfect. Crowe was great as the alpha male (accent dodgy) but the visuals utterly stunning and at least iot took them a few days to get from he south to Nottingham and not an hadrians wall in sight. This is an excellent movie and my freind Hannah who was credited as girl by bog hehe stole the show for me. I loved this film and as a fan of Prince of theives will all its faults this film tops the list of the genre for me. Loved it.
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- lolfool said...
- Posted on Jul 12 2010 14:00 lol this film was baaaaaad what a waste of money hahahahaha joking its not that great but its not that bad either you can only win or lose with this film.
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- kevin the greatl said...
- Posted on Jul 08 2010 23:38 this medievil romp was hillarious. crowe was perfectly cast as the portly friar tuck. his one liners and slapstick humour was reminisant of his late great father frankie howard. unfortunately this film was not as funny as the first film in the trilogy boys in hood 2. cmon director terry scott get your act together
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- Mark M said...
- Posted on Jul 07 2010 11:38 Really good, apart from the accents of some of the lead players. Far more believable than most other Robin Hood films
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- xXxSNIPE_MASTER_CODxXx said...
- Posted on Jun 15 2010 16:52 it was a truly magnificent piece of film making; a work of art worthy of the most inspiring and influential of artists. i especially liked the bit where robin hood no scoped the guy at the end. only a true sniper with the reflexes of a graceful panther could shoot like that. russel crowe, i salute you.
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- silentnur said...
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Posted on Jun 13 2010 11:22
I love this film.
Hope to watch it again and again. Salute to Ridley Scott & Russell Crowe. Great film! - Report as inappropriate
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- Isabel B. said...
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Posted on Jun 07 2010 09:04
Not really the Robin Hood you're looking for and a bit dreary.
Charles, you say it introduces a great deal of history that never gets any attention?
The problem with that is people buy the ticket to see filoms for entertainment not history lessons and we certainly don't want all that PC stuff either. - Report as inappropriate
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- John said...
- Posted on Jun 07 2010 08:37 A real shame. I found it slow and a touch unbelievable!
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- Charles Apple said...
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Posted on Jun 04 2010 05:53
Robin Hood was terrific. This is something of a hobby of mine. I'm 62, so I've seen most Robin Hood efforts first run. This one does the entire legend a service by rewriting the overall storyline and giving it a nice, grown up boost. I completely agree with the other 2 comments. Crowe is fine especially since this is not a movie about jokes, but about times that are very dark. We have way too many comic book movies that neither address anything on the minds of the adults in the room nor do they offer a reasonable upbeat, hopeful resolution that does not involve blood and gore and those little bags that you get on airplanes.
This was a real popcorn movie. The reading didn't bother me. I love print and the little bit here was just fine. As were the terrific credits that the reviewer notes. My sweetie says that a movie has to pass the Cynthia butt test. This Robin Hood certainly achieved that test.
One last point. Despite the fact that this movie plays fast and free with the historical facts in question (it is a movie after all), it does introduce a good deal of history that never gets any attention, namely, the dreadful reign of John, the invasion of the French, and the civil war in England.
While no one will ever replace Errol Flynn or Richard Greene for me, Russell Crowe certainly shows me a new vision of Robin and does so along with a wonderful action movie. - Report as inappropriate
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- btherrt said...
- Posted on Jun 01 2010 18:32 i thought it was very good, just that they needed to make it more clear, but then again it was ok.
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- brandon said...
- Posted on May 31 2010 22:54 slow as a week in a jail absolute mince i think the kids one told me more about robin hood the only good bit was the last 10 mins at the end when the french didn't know what todo at one point i wanted to leave my family nd i are being kind giving it a 4/10 if you watch this you would need to be bored ice secenery though
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- jules said...
- Posted on May 29 2010 19:26 just good for a rainy day, I liked beter the old ones...
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- Pete said...
- Posted on May 29 2010 17:08 Not much good. Dreary in fact. Not like Robin Hood at all.
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Cast & crew
Director: Ridley Scott
Cast: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Mark Strong, Matthew Macfadyen, Danny Huston, Kevin Durand, William Hurt, Max von Sydow full cast
Genre(s): Period/Swashbucklers
Rated: 12A
Duration: 140 mins
UK Release: May 14 2010
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