The story of Robin Hood first made its appearance on the silver screen in 1922 with Douglas Fairbanks in the title role. There have been many versions since, but it is safe to say that Ridley Scott has put a very individual stamp on the story. He has decided that he will not tell the legend that we all know, but instead focus on the story that preceded the legend. He wants to tell us how Robin Hood ended up in Sherwood Forest.
There have been some less than glittering attempts to put a new gloss on the Robin Hood story, and one might have thought that Kevin Costner’s gloomy and brooding Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) and Mel Brooks’ laboriously unfunny Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) might have been the last we would see of this particular hero. But Scott has found a political dimension to the Robin Hood story that goes beyond just taking from the rich and giving to the poor, and this is what drives this new production.
Having been brought up on the Robin Hood legend with the image of Errol Flynn in the title role, Russell Crowe seemed to me a highly improbable Robin Hood, and judging by the trailer, this was going to be something like Gladiator, except in Merry England. It is both more and less than that, because Scott has decided to take a stab at explaining, in simplified cinematic terms, something of the blurred division between Norman England and France, as well as some of the ideas floating around that in England led to the Magna Carta. It is a complicated job, and it takes every ounce of Scott’s very considerable filmmaking talent to package it all up. With its large slabs of action and a romantic involvement, it’s an ungainly package, but it holds together after a fashion.
The story starts out with Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) as an archer in the army of Richard the Lion Heart, which is ravaging its way through France. In a minor engagement, Richard is killed, and Longstride and a bunch of friends return to England. For various complex reasons, Robin is adopted into the family of Sir Walter Loxley, and is presented to all around as Loxley’s son returned from 10 years of war. There is a The Return of Martin Guerre plot element here, which cleverly deals with the many personas of the Robin Hood legend, and sets up the most powerful relationship of the movie, that between Longstride, Loxley (Max von Sydow) and Marion (Cate Blanchett). Von Sydow and Blanchett provide a depth that Crowe’s rough-and-ready action hero can play off, acquiring detail and shading without having to drop his tough guy carapace.
Scott is a master of making big exciting cinema, and there are plenty of exciting action sequences. An opening set piece of King Richard laying siege to a minor French castle is particularly well done, conveying the organized chaos of medieval warfare. Unfortunately, the demands of romantic storytelling get the better of Scott, and the final battle to repel a French invasion is woefully unconvincing.
The supporting cast is generally excellent, but the demands of Scott’s historical agenda get in the way of character development, and Mark Strong, who plays Godfrey, a noble who shifts allegiance between France and England, is, through no fault of his own, an utterly one-dimensional villain.
In its style, Robin Hood owes too much to both Gladiator and Scott’s 2005 Crusader film, Kingdom of Heaven. It doesn’t feel fresh, and despite all that is good about it, remains unengaging. Scott has recently confirmed that he will soon be embarking on two 3D Alien prequels. Is Robin Hood just a first step toward cannibalizing his body of work in a desperate attempt to keep the films coming? Let’s hope not.
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