So this review is long overdue as I actually saw Robin Hood during it's opening week. Despite this being the umpteenth iteration of this classic story, I have quite a bit to say about this film, so let's hope I still remember it all in this review.
I think the one thing that needs to be stressed about this film is its central story. If you thought this would be another version of seeing Robin stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, you would be dead wrong. This film is actually a prequel of sorts, establishing how he became the outlaw that we all know him to be today. This backstory that director Ridley Scott gives us unfortunately isn't that interesting. It really doesn't even revolve around Robin. Instead, it's a story of England's war with the French and Robin just happens to be in the middle of it. It almost seemed as I watched this film that Scott just wanted to do another historical war film, but the studio didn't find that interesting enough so he decided to shoehorn Robin Hood into the story to make it more appealing.
This time around, the classic archer is played by Russell Crowe. Crowe has teamed up with Scott in the past with big success. This time around, Scott would have been better off not relying on his old friends. As great of an actor as Crowe is, he doesn't really add much to this storied character. He doesn't give him enough energy or charisma, which causes you to wonder why anyone would bother following this guy. There are a couple of moments in the film when Crowe is giving a speech to a crowd of people and I wondered why anyone was listing. Had I been there, I would have asked, "And you are again?"
Despite that void of character, Robin Hood does of course have his followers. Sadly, because this is a prequel, they are barely given more than token acknowledgments. We see who Little John and Friar Tuck are but that's about it. Throughout the film they're either dutifully following Robin or getting drunk when he's away. At least we can see why they were considered 'merry'. Perhaps more frustrating than their lack of development is seeing quality actors thrown into the film for meaningless roles. Actors like Max Von Sydow and William Hurt show up at various points, but again fail to add the expected prestige to the movie. Hurt's presence is particularly bizarre since his character doesn't have a major impact on the flow of the story. It sadly seemed like these guys simply came in for a paycheck and have the studio use their names in the credits to give the film some added prestige.
The only other actor besides Crowe who is given something of substance is Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian. Even though she has a larger role, the script wastes her talents as well. If she's not involved in some laughable romantic comedy scenes with Crowe, then she's trying to do the female empowerment thing by getting involved in the fight scenes with the men. Neither situation feels authentic. Instead, they've molded the character to fit into today's Hollywood archetypes. If you didn't know any better, you'd swear they were trying to spin the character off into her own action adventure franchise.
While nothing about this picture feels like a real Robin Hood movie, everything about it does feel like a Ridley Scott picture. You've got a lot of fighting sequences that are edited at a frenetic pace. Although I will say that I found them to be more enjoyable here than in a lot of his other sword and sandal movies. I'm not sure why that is, but maybe it's because there were so many problems with the non-fighting scenes here that the fights just looked better by comparison. The film also has another Scott standby; themes of power and the corruption of government. Here, we see King John in over his head as king of England and use bullying tactics as a way to mask his ineptitude. Watching this performance though, you can't help but feel that King John is nothing more than a watered down version of Joaquin Phoenix's Commodus from Gladiator. Really, the whole movie feels like a tepid sampling of many of Scott's previous better films.
While Robin Hood never matches up to expectations, it never bores you either. The film moves along with a mix of action and light comedy that will likely keep most entertained. However, you will also sit and wonder what could have been. It seems like a lot of key pieces are there, but nobody felt like putting the effort in to make it something special. While Robin never missed the target, this Robin Hood definitely misses its mark. Grade: C+
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