Movie Review - Robin Hood

Robin Hood (2010)

Starring Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Max von Sydow, William Hurt, Mark Strong, and Oscar Isaac 

Directed by Ridley Scott

There was much talk when this version of Robin Hood was released in theaters last May.  People felt like the Robin Hood story had been told one too many times.  While that may be true, I was willing to give this version a chance.  The first act of the film had me decidedly won over and I was actually quite intrigued.  That fervor didn't last, however, as the film drifted into a silly romance about thirty minutes in that bored the heck out of me and had me itching for the thing to be over.

The basic old standby summary of Robin Hood is that he's a guy in medieval England who steals from the rich and gives to the poor.  In Ridley Scott's version, while Robin certainly assists the poor, he's not stealing from the rich.  When the film begins, we discover that Robin (Russell Crowe) is aiding the Crown in a fight against France on the foreign country's soil.  When England's king is killed in battle, Robin and three of his friends decide to skedaddle back home -- they've fought for a decade and long to get back to regular life.  Along the way to the French coast, they encounter the English royal guard who, while attempting to get back home to announce the death of the king, get attacked by French soldiers who just so happen to be assisted by English traitor Sir Godfrey (Mark Strong).  Robin and his men manage to stop the attack, but the entire guard is killed, so Robin must bring word of the king's death to their compatriots.  

And it's at this point that the film loses me.  Robin ends up traveling to some village where he meets Marion (Cate Blanchett).  They end up falling in love which leads to a ridiculously silly final battle scene when Marion takes up the sword and, like the stereotypical way in many films, causes more havoc than good, forcing Robin to put himself in more danger because of her.

The film isn't an overwhelming letdown -- there are positives.  Crowe portrays Robin as both powerful and caring and he was actually pleasant to watch.  I often find him quite boring and unemotional, and while that's kind of the case here as well, it worked for this character for some reason.  Also good is Ridley Scott's direction of the battle sequences.  The opening thirty minutes are one battle after another and they're all staged rather well.  While he's not averse to using the quick cuts of many of his contemporaries, he doesn't employ them too often to become annoying.  Additionally, the final battle is quite good, too, although it's marred by an absolutely ridiculous last shot involving a impossibly perfectly shot arrow that had me laughing when it certainly wasn't supposed to.  For that I fault both Scott and the incredibly silly screenwriter for somehow thinking that would play well onscreen.

Perhaps the biggest disappointment in the film is the reliance on the romance between Robin and Marion to carry the film's plot.  There was not a moment where I believed that Crowe and Blanchett had any inkling of chemistry.  Sure, that's partly their fault, but this lack of connection between the characters is also due to screenwriter Brian Helgeland.  Their romantic "journey" was laughable and not the least bit interesting or surprising.

You could certainly do worse than this version of Robin Hood, but there's not enough here for me to recommend it.

The RyMickey Rating:  C-