Robin Hood Review

In the 12th century King Richard is returning from the ill fated campaign in the holy land waging war against the infidels. His army is bankrupt and has to pillage its way through France. During one particular siege Richard the Lion Hearted, beloved King of England is taken down by an arrow shot by a French cook. Robin Longstride, an expert archer in the King’s army decides in the interest of self preservation that it’s probably best to take off now before word of the king’s death reaches the coast and they won’t be able to afford the return. Along the way they encounter Sir Godfrey, an Englishman betraying his king and country by conspiring with the King of France to cause unrest with the vain and ineffectual Prince John. Godfrey and his bandits had just killed the soldiers who were returning the crown back to England. Robin and his band manage to scare them away. He hears the last words of Sir Robin of Loxley who makes Robin Longstride promise to return his sword to his family in Nottingham.

Prince John (Oscar Isaac), the youngest son and now only living child of the Queen Mother is elevated to King. He immediately demands more taxes from his subjects despite the country already suffering from paying the price of King Richards’s war. Sir Godfrey insinuates himself in the King’s Counsel and replaces William Marshall (William Hurt) the advisor to his father and his brother. Godfrey tells the king that he will make sure the taxes are paid. Only Godfrey smuggles French soldiers into the country to help him do the dirty work. He hopes to divide the country in civil war against their king and make the invasion France successful. What he doesn’t consider is Robin Hood’s ability to unite the Barons and the country against the tyranny.

There are so many different stories of the infamous archer and his battle to rob from the rich and give to the poor. This particular version written by Brian Helgeland who has done the Green Zone, Mystic River, and a Knight’s Tale, rewrites everything you think you may have known about Robin of the Hood. Don’t try to reference Errol Flynn’s merry band of bandits in tights and their peppy fun loving attitudes. This is a dark and dirty England and a very buff (Russell Crowe has not looked this good since Gladiator), and serious solider. Cate Blanchett plays Marion the wife of Robin of Loxley who must pretend that Robin Longstride is her husband returned from the wars so that she would not lose her properties when the elderly and blind Sir Walter Loxley (Max von Sydow) passes. She is not the prim and delicate ward as in the other stories. She’s the matron of the household, working the fields along side the people of her lands.

Director Ridley Scott who also directed Kingdom of Heaven, Alien, American Gangster, is a master of the creating and immersing an audience into the story and its world. The battle sequences are well executed and visually exciting. The final battle between France and England was like a reenactment of D-Day only with arrows and horses. This could have easily ended up like Braveheart, but the movie carves its own niche into medieval lore. Crowe is excellent as Robin as well as his merry men Little John (Kevin Durand), Will Scarlet (Scott Grimes) and Friar Tuck (Mark Addy) who are well cast. This is a good stand alone film, but it ends with the Robin Hood the outlaw of Sherwood Forest that just begs for a sequel.
(Review by Reesa)