When you slap the name “Robin Hood” on a movie, people will have certain expectations about what they’ll see. Bandits stealing from the rich, archery, men living in the forest, a greedy king, and his sniveling sheriff; all the elements that repeat time and time again in the classic Robin Hood story that has been retold in countless forms. With all the different iterations you have to wonder what new twists can they put on the story that will bring an audience back. How about forgoing all those other plot points altogether?
Where Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood begins will seem familiar enough. Most people know that Robin was returning from the crusades. What Scott changes are the conditions of his return. After King Richard (Danny Huston) is killed in the final castle assault on his way back to England, Robin (Russell Crowe) and his comrades decide to head home early without waiting to see how the king’s death will play out. Robin, Scarlet (Scott Grimes), and Little John (Kevin Durand) stumble upon the aftermath of an ambush on the king’s knights entrusted with returning his crown to England. Thwarting the attempts of the assassins, Robin and his men ferry the crown back to England and fulfill the dying wish of a man named Robert of Loxley. Richard’s younger brother John (Oscar Isaac) takes the throne only to be undermined from day one by the scheming of his newly appointed chancellor, Godfrey (Mark Strong), who has made a deal with the French to provide them with a window for an invasion amongst England’s seemingly inevitable civil war.
The typical Robin Hood romance makes a strange appearance, having been manipulated into more of an inherited love than one stemming from a childhood relationship. To fill the dying request of Robert of Loxley, Robin returns the fallen soldier’s sword to his father, Walter of Loxley (Max von Sydow), only to be commissioned to impersonate his dead son and act as the husband of his daughter-in-law Marion (Cate Blanchett) so she won’t lose the property upon Walter’s imminent death (as women can’t own property in this era).
Needless to say, this ain’t your daddy’s Robin Hood.
Ridley changes the dynamic completely by taking the film away from the “root for the underdog” theme that has made the story such a timeless classic. In its place is a film that feels like one part Gladiator (which can’t be helped considering it’s Scott, Crowe, and a long-past era back together again) and two parts Elizabeth (another inevitable factor thanks to all the royal court intrigue and Cate Blanchett playing her usual strong-willed heroine). The only moments when Robin Hood matches the action excellence of Gladiator is in the rare archery shot which seldom comes along (odd considering it’s a story about Robin Hood) but possesses an intensely visceral cinematography that makes each arrow strike a painful looking experience. And rightly so.
If you’re going to stray away from the expected Robin Hood storyline, you better make sure you put one in that’s every bit as compelling. That didn’t happen here. What can be found is a convoluted story which, while not too confusing to follow, flits about from one idea to the next without lending severity to any. A prequel to the typical Robin Hood story isn’t a bad idea, but the elements which make the popular tale such a hit shouldn’t just be brushed aside. What you end up with is a basic story set in the medieval times attempting to play a difficult balancing act between being a straight-up action or war film and being a political thriller.
Ridley Scott’s visual style hasn’t changed too much between his last few films and Robin Hood holds to his recent quota. All he’s given us is a generic historical war piece with little to set it apart from the more generic fare that would just go straight to DVD.
"Robin Hood" opens May 14, 2010 and is rated PG13. Action, Drama. Directed by Ridley Scott. Written by Brian Helgeland. Starring Cate Blanchett, Danny Huston, Kevin Durand, Mark Addy, Mark Strong, Max Von Sydow, Oscar Isaac, Russell Crowe, Scott Grimes, William Hurt.
