Robin Hood

May 21, 2010

Jays Rating:
Actors: /
Director:

Director Ridley Scott takes a fresh look at the origin of Robin Hood by moving him out of Sherwood Forrest and onto the battlefield in the action, drama Robin Hood. It’s the 13th century and Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) is an archer in the army of King Richard the Lionhearted (Danny Huston) in a war with France. When King Richard is killed and his men begin attacking castles and estates on the way back to London, Robin and some of his friends leave the army and ride on ahead. Robin arrives home to find that Prince John (Oscar Isaac) has become King and has been taxing all of England beyond their means. Robin travels to the small town of Nottingham to give a message to Lady Marion Loxley (Cate Blanchett.) when he learns that the seed she had for her crops had been stolen. No need to worry – Robin not only recovers the stolen seed, he is somehow able to plant 5000 acres of seed in a day. (Wow, Robin sure knows how to impress a lady!) In the meantime, Robin makes enemies with the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham (Matthew MacFadyen) while continuing a feud with Godfrey (Mark Strong) who was one of King Richard’s men. (You can’t have too many villains in a movie.) Finally, Robin rides off for one final battle with France and the end of the story. This film has all of the earmarks of an epic adventure: a lesson in history, some romance, and a lot of action. But, about halfway through the movie it began to slow down and I forgot about all the great characters and was trying to figure out who was who. Although it does recover toward the end, a film of this magnitude should offer a little more passion and emotion, kind of like that other Scott-Crowe film called Gladiator. I also had a hard time picturing Russell Crowe as a young Robin Hood which was supposed to take place before he even went into Sherwood Forrest with his band of merry men. Crowe is 45 years old and I would think they could have found an actor about 20 years younger. (I was available but I knew they wanted someone who could see and I guess there’s still the age thing.) I was expecting a swashbuckling Robin Hood but I’ll still give it a B rating.

This movie has been given a PG13 rating by the MPAA

Although I am blind, I can appreciate a good movie as well as sighted individuals.
I rely more on a good story line than special effects.