Review: Robin Hood

Originally Ridley Scott had planned to make a film starring Russell Crowe as The Sherrif of Nottingham who would be a sympathetic figure and he would portray Robin Hood as the villain of the piece. But when Scott revealled that he would call the film Nottingham, the studios realised that they would have to spend a lot of money explaining to everyone that it was a Robin Hood film. So in the end we are left with Crowe as Robin the soldier and the good guy of the piece and The Sherif of Nottingham reduced to being a sidenote as the main villians become King John and Mark Strong's French baddie Godfrey. But Scott still wants to tell an alternative tale so kind of gives us Robin Hood: Before he was an Outlaw. The tale sees Robin as a soldier who fights alongside King Richard and Robert of Loxley during The Crusades however when Richard and Loxley are killed Robin returns to Nottingham to give the news to Robert's father and his wife Marian. Meanwhile Godfrey, aide to Prince John, is secretly plotting a French invasion and these plots inevitably intertwined throughout the film.

The main problem with Scott's vision for Robin Hood is that it just seems a bit bogged down with trying to tell a story and has sacrificed entertainment in the process. There's only so many times you can watch Robin Hood riding round forrests with Dr Morris from ER and Martin Kimi from Lost before you start to drift off. For a film that aims to be a summer blockbuster it is incredibly talky and has little action to offer. The final battle scenes are fairly entertaining but eventually even they outstay their welcome. The main problem however is that the whole things just feels quite cold. The fact that it always seems to be bitterly cold in the forrest makes the film seem unengaging and quite stand offish. There are a few entertaining moments the banter between the Merry Men is always quite light and Mark Strong's villainous ramblings are always worth a look

Of the performances Russell Crowe doesn't really make for a likeable Hood. In Gladiator his character displayed heart and the performance was full of emotion and rightfully got him a Best Actor Oscar. Here he's gruff and just fairly uninspriing till his final scenes where he has to rally everyone into action. Another problem, that has been well reported in the press, is that of his accent a kind of cross breed between his native antipodean tongue and Michael Parkinson via Liverpool, Dublin and Newcastle-Upon-Tyne. Another problem is that most of the parts are not filled by English actors instead you have Cate Blanchett as Marian, Danny Huston as King Richard, William Hurt as the King's advisor and Max Von Sydow as Walter Loxley. Blanchett actually fairs pretty well as Marian playing her as an incredibly strong character and an equal to Robin. As already mentioned Mark Strong once again steals the show and proves that the bad guys in Robin Hood are always worth watching. There are also some good performances from the other Brits notably Oscar Isaac as King John, Eileen Atkins as his mother and Mark Addy providing the comic relief as Friar Tuck.

Overall though this incredibly flawed, if Crowe and Scott were planning to make another Gladiator then they failed. This has none of the excitement or heart that that film had instead this is a very plodding historical tale with little action or decent central performances.