**
DVD Release
After King Richard the Lionheart
is killed in a siege in France, long-serving Robin Longstride and a small group
of fellow soldiers set off back to England. On the way, Robin receives a sword
from its dying owner who wishes for it to be returned to his father, Sir Walter
Loxley. Meanwhile, King John (newly crowned after the death of his brother)
finds his position compromised after his right-hand man, Godfrey, persuades him
to ruthlessly pursue the missing taxes. With the country out of love with the
new king, Godfrey hopes the French will be able to invade and overtake with
ease, and begins shipping troops into England.
So, the historical accuracy of
this film is about as far from the truth as Ridley Scott’s previous film, Gladiator. The lack of accuracy doesn’t
really matter in Gladiator, however,
as it is such an excellent and exciting film that you get swept along in it,
but this is not the case with Robin Hood.
For starters, the tone of the film is all over the place – there are moments of
slap-stick comedy, followed by scenes that play out like a romantic comedy
(because, surprise surprise, the dead soldier left behind a lonely wife), and
then moments of brutal and gory violence. There are scenes of deep political
discussion, and then lots of drunken behaviour from Robin’s three followers,
who are all completely interchangeable. When the film appears to veer towards
more meaningful and interesting themes, such as the French invasion led by
Godfrey (Mark Strong), it soon cuts back to the scenes with Robin and Maid
Marion and the film loses its way again.
Mark Strong is, without a doubt,
one of the best things about this film, but his character is painfully
underdeveloped and not given enough screen time for us to understand his
motives fully. Russell Crowe looks a little awkward as Robin Longstride (not ‘Hood’
yet) and his accent wavers between Irish and Australian throughout the entire
film. Cate Blanchett gives an admiral performance as Maid Marion and she certainly
steals the show when she’s on screen, but the scenes in which she and Robin are
meant to be falling in love are completely clichéd. Essentially, the film looks
good but has no substance – it is excellently shot and the soundtrack is
emotive in all the right places, but the whole thing is just a vacuous mess.
Spoiler alert:
The final show-down fight is also ridiculous. Some of the underwater shots are lifted completely from the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan and Maid Marion turns up with a bunch of forest-dwelling adolescents on ponies. Similarly, how on earth did they get down that cliff?
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