Monday, 29 May 2017

Robin Hood (2010) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written May 29th, 2017*

I'm not sure if Robin Hood every needed a "gritty" and "realistic" adaptation, but here we have it. Starring Russell Crowe as he once again continues to be fightin' round the world and directed by Ridley Scott. It's similar to Gladiator in a lot of ways, mostly due to the style and aesthetic, but it's never as good.

The only other exposure to Robin Hood I've had is with the brilliant Disney animated film and the severely underrated BBC show that 12 year old Dan loved. I'm sure the BBC series is probably campy Saturday night viewing garbage that I'll probably find terrible now (Much like Doctor Who *Shudders*), but for a 12 year old it's good shit.

This is a darker and more violent take on Robin Hood and it doesn't really work. It was an okay film for the most part, it's a little bloated and goes through a lot of stretches that are quite boring, but the action scenes are actually quite great and well realized. There's an impressive level of work put into the set-design, everything looks practical and real, the final battle at the end is awesome.

Russell Crowe Fightin' Round the World
I think my biggest complaint is that it really isn't a fun film, it's dark and brooding, but never really fun. I've always seen Robin Hood as a light-hearted and fun character with humour, here it's just kinda bland. Russell Crowe does a fine job, but it's a shame that we never once see him really "Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor", instead we have a more or less historical war film with English folklore thrown in to the mix.

I don't really have a lot to say about Robin Hood really. I enjoyed more than I remember, but it's far from a great film. It's concept just doesn't make for a really gritty film. It reminds me a little of 2017's Power Rangers film, but this is way better than that disaster, but suffers from some of same problems.

Robin Hood and his Merry Men
The biggest shame of Robin Hood is that it had the potential to be, say, as good as Gladiator, but Ridley Scott is not the director he's used to be. He peaked in the '70s and '80s, but merely makes mediocrity these days (With The Martian being a huge exception). I guess I'm trying to say I miss good Ridley Scott.

There's also a hint of a sequel at the end, which unsurprisingly never happened, and to be honest, I'm not really bothered by that. Robin Hood is merely an okay film with some excellent technical aspects and action, but mostly fails as a franchise starter. Meh.

6/10 Dans

Robin Hood is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
Watch the trailer below:

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