Robin Hood
Review
by Sean Lynch
Robin
Hood is back - again - this time in the form of a no
nonsense Russell Crowe, in a time before he was "Robin of the
Hood" and simply "Robin Longstride" (no, it's not his porn-name... I
checked).
Yep, it's yet another "Hollywood Reboot" - with Ridley Scott at the
helm doing his darnedest to give a credible back story to the legend
known by generations simply as Robin Hood who "robs from the rich and
gives to the poor".
On paper it makes sense, the crew behind Gladiator re-team
for another ye olde adventure - this time breathing life into one of
the most kick-ass characters in all of 13th century English mythology.
He was Batman before there was Batman - so a darker, less camp version
of the man in tights can only be a good thing.
Right? Hmmm, not quite.
Chronicling the life of Longstride's rise from expert archer in King
Richard's army against the French, to stealing a name and living the
life of another man (essentially it's a more noble and less creepy
version of The Talented
Mr Ripley), Scott's Robin
Hood takes us through the treacherous world of Kings,
Queens, power and... crippling taxation.
While there are plenty of impressive, expensive looking and difficult
to organise action sequences - Robin
Hood is, despite it's best intentions, very much a case
of "seen it before".
It's ironic really, because Ridley Scott is responsible for re-starting
the "Ye Olde Battle Film" genre with Gladiator (which
led to many rip offs like King
Aurthur, Kingdom Of Heaven, Troy, etc) yet now is a
victim of his own unique vision.
We've seen sling-shots and arrows thrown at castles - and yes it makes
for quite entertaining night out at the movies - but ten years on, what
have you got for us that's new?
Not much... possibly less, and a tad longer... it seems.
Put simply, Robin Hood
just isn't as fun, edgy or interesting as the film you
realise (about halfway through) you'd rather be watching... Gladiator.
Despite some genuinely exciting action sequences and excellent
performances from the likes of Crowe (who returns to that 100% "man" that made him a star), Cate Blanchett (as a ballsy Maid
Marion) and serial bad-guy Mark Strong, Scott struggles to keep enough
happening to really keep the audience on the edge of their seat.
Even the final showdown between good and evil (which realistically
should end with the audience internally and externally yelling at the
screen "Got him! Booya Robin! Nice shot!") really lacks the punch of
the swag of films that have come before it.
Don't get me wrong, Robin
Hood is well worth checking out - especially if you can't
get enough of these types of epics.
It's big, it's loud, it
looks great (those shots of the arrows flying and Rusty Crowe bursting
out of the water are a cinematographers wet dream), it tells a
relatively new story, has a forest-load of character development and is genuinely entertaining...
But much like the English weather - it's all a bit "Blah".
You can't blame a man for trying to bring a new angle to a familiar
tale, but sometimes you just have to decide to either have fun and embrace the aspects of the character
we love (like Jon Favreau's take on Iron Man), or get gritty and give the action some unadulterated violent, scary balls (like The Dark Knight).
Or
we can forget about "Reboots" and "Origin Stories" all together and
just present decent visions of the characters we've all paid to see
without all the plot heavy backstory.
Comedian Patton Oswalt said it best : "Would you like some ice-cream?
Well here's a big bag of Rock-Salt, if you combine it with ice and
cream and sugar and flavouring, it BECOMES ice-cream... I
don't give a sh*t where the stuff I love comes from - I just want the
stuff I love!".
3 out
of 5
Robin Hood
Australian release: 13th May,
2010
Official
Site: Robin
Hood
Cast: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett,
Mark Strong
Director: Ridley Scott
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