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DVD Robin Hood
 Run time: 140 min Rating: 6.7 Genres: Action | Adventure | Drama Director: Ridley Scott Writers: Brian Helgeland, Brian Helgeland Stars: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Matthew Macfadyen |
| Storyline Birth of a legend. Following King Richard’s death in France, archer Robin Longstride, along with Will Scarlett, Alan-a-Dale and Little John, returns to England. They encounter the dying Robert of Locksley, whose party was ambushed by treacherous Godfrey, who hopes to facilitate a French invasion of England. Robin promises the dying knight he will return his sword to his father Walter in Nottingham. Here Walter encourages him to impersonate the dead man to prevent his land being confiscated by the crown, and he finds himself with Marian, a ready-made wife. Hoping to stir baronial opposition to weak King John and allow an easy French take-over, Godfrey worms his way into the king’s service as Earl Marshal of England and brutally invades towns under the pretext of collecting Royal taxes. Can Robin navigate the politics of barons, royals, traitors, and the French? Written by don @ minifie-1 |
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| Plot Keywords: england, king, crown, invasion, death | |
| Details: Country: USA, UK Release Date: 12 May 2010 (UK) |
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| Box Office Budget: $200,000,000 (estimated) Opening Weekend: £5,750,332 (UK) (14 May 2010) Gross: $105,219,735 (USA) (30 July 2010) |
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4 comments
I had very high expectations and who wouldn't? Ridley Scott directing a great adventure with a very solid cast and a high budget.
The movie didn't really start the way I thought it would. The pace was quite slow but very interesting, and I was gripped. The interaction between Robin and his fellow soldiers was quite believable and entertaining, and the story about the English crown succession was also nicely done.
The entire chapter about Nottingham and its citizens is also at a nice and slow pace, but its never dull. Von sydow is a pleasure to see as usual, and both Crowe and Cate Blanchett delivers. You just sit and smile, when things suddenly goes very very wrong…
It starts when Walter Loxley explains Robins past to him. The scene is rushed and it seems a bit far-fetched. Also the following scene when robin goes to the meeting of the barons. Ridley must at this time peeked at his watch and noticed that he let most of the movie pass without telling much, and start to massacre the script.
The Nottingham action scene is where it's starting to go seriously wrong. You can't really get to understand how Robin suddenly is in command of an army, and speaking to lords as their equal. Especially when they call him by his common name in a scene later. The pace is really off here too… Action scene-Action scene-Short grief scene- Love scene- And on horseback against the French again in a 5min gap. Set in contrast to the feelgood mode you were in this is a very rude awakening.
After this you are handed a fighting scene that is absurd in every way. The landing craft is from WW2 (what possible use does the landing bridge have on these boats?). The battle is a slaughter, the French never stand a chance(not very interesting).
When suddenly Marion appears on the beach with the local teenage runaways on ponies I just shake my head… why?! It's just stupid?! Also they seem to be trained by ninjas and easily takes on trained French soldiers.
There is an ending after, but its thrown together in five minutes.
In one line.
This movie had a lot of potential, but it's thrown away on hasted parts and plain stupid scenes.
I went to see Robin Hood with an open mind. I didn't read any of the reviews, I didn't watch any of the previews, and early on I thought that it was a pretty good film with a few loose ends that would surely be wrapped up by the ending. I was wrong. Nothing got wrapped up and there were so many plot holes and loose ends that left this movie a disaster of a film. Here are just a few examples:
1) Who are the kids in the forest with The Strangers masks on their faces?
2) What happened to Prince John's first wife? We see her looking through a keyhole at her husband in bed with another woman but that's it. John tells his mother that he has written to the pope seeking an annulment but his mother tells him that it will never be granted. So… happened to her?
3) Early on, the priest who is leaving Nottingham to deliver the grain tells Marion Loxley that she can't have the grain because "she reaps what she sows." What did Marion Loxley, other than conveniently leaving all her grain in a storage shed outside the main walls, do to deserve this "reap what you sow" punishment?
4) Robin comes to Nottingham and schemes with the Loxley's to pretend to be Robert Loxley who has been gone for 10 years. No one in the village catches on so we are to believe that EVERYONE in Nottingham either a) are new to Nottingham and didn't know Robert Loxley before he left or b) conveniently forgot what Robert Loxley looked like?
5) Robin tells us that his motivation for returning to England is to seek land and fortune. He's there to take advantage of the situation. Marion Loxley has him sleeping on the floor with dogs and they have no apparent relationship other than keeping up with the scheme that Robin is Robert Loxley. Why then does Robin go out of his way and risk life and fortune to help Marion get her grain back?
6) Robin gets the grain back and we see a small group of them casually tossing the grain around on the ground. When Marion Loxley wakes from her afternoon nap Robin tells her that her fields have been planted… all 5,000 acres??
7) If you want to remember forgotten things from your childhood all you have to do is close your eyes and vivid flashbacks will suddenly appear.
8) The French had landing craft Saving Private Ryan style in the 12th century?
9) We see an army of horsemen riding fast through the mountains to get to the beach to meet the French landing craft. Before they go down to the beach they decide the horsemen will ride to the beach and foot archers will fire from the cliff side. What archers? In the battle scene we see thousands of arrows striking down the French on the beach? Where did they come from because they obviously didn't ride in with the horsemen? Did they fly in on helicopters?
10) Before the battle on the beach against the French I thought, "This is going to be a slaughter." It was. That is supposed to be interesting how?
11) Where is England's standing army? You know… the tens of thousands of men in red uniforms with swords, bows and arrows, cavalry, pikes, and all that shiny equipment like we saw in the movie Braveheart?
12) We see Prince John an arrogant young man with a mistress in his bed early in the movie, then he confidently fires William Marshal and sets Godfrey off to the north with an army to collect taxes. Then when civil war "unexpectedly" sets off Godfrey is suddenly "not the friend that he thought he was" and John seeks to unify the angry mob because England conveniently doesn't have a standing army. Robin interrupts the meeting, gives a little speech, and they all ride off to war together. Then before the beach battle scene we see that John is useless because although he is suppose to be leading the army he doesn't know how to place the troops and instead relies on William Marshal to make a battle plan. In the battle we see that John is just a bumbling idiot, swinging his sword around randomly even after the battle is over. But in the VERY next scene we see that John is confident again, going against his word to sign the charter and declaring Robin to be an outlaw. Will the real King John please stand up?
13) Somehow on the battle on the beach, even though they were just fighting victoriously along side one another, we are supposed to believe that King John is jealous of Robin because the French surrendered to him? King John asks William Marshal, "Who did the French surrender to?" and William Marshal points to Robin. The thing is, it seemed to me that the French didn't surrender to anyone. The King of France ordered his boat to turn around so they could "fight another day". Was the whole "they surrendered to Robin" just thrown in to move the plot along?
14) How did King John determine that Robin was lying about his identity?
15) What is the motivation for the kids with The Strangers masks on their faces? Early on they are evil looking thieves who steal the grain from Marion Loxley but by the end of the movie they are little ninja warriors on ponies fighting not just alongside Marion, but being led by her.
Solid is the keyword. From the screenplay, to the cinematography and the performance, the film is based on solid grounding. Indeed, we couldn't imagine less from the people assembled on the project. And the first signs are indeed good, starting as an origin story that traces Robin's steps returning from the Crusades and arriving in Nottingham. The plot is immediately both compelling and fresh with regards to the well known tale.
The first problem we run into is that the film never allows itself to linger. This creates two problems: the sense of purpose it reaches for through urgency has a tendency to be lost to aimlessness, and the characters never have the space to generate real depth of emotion.
Imagine only this: Russel Crowe, Cate Blanchett and William Hurt together have collected three Oscars, and an additional nine nominations. Yet it it's hard to lavish praise on their performances, because they never manage to inspire empathy as well as we might wish. The sense of urgency – of imminent physical danger to their person, of the crucial importance of their quest – never quite strikes home.
The screenplay doesn't always help them. It attempts to give the tale a strong moral foundation, by associating it with burgeoning democratic ideals in feudal Britain, unconvincingly: suspension of disbelief failed this reviewer.
For both these reasons, the epic sense of greatness that saturates Mr. Scott's similar works never works in this one. Indeed, in the anticipated climax of the battle, slow motion shots fall flat, and emotion never reaches an expected high, in spite of the film's competence in the action scenes.
This is a work that strangely echoes others, as well. People will be drawn to comparisons with Gladiator; these aren't particularly relevant beyond Russell Crow's similar (yet less engaging) performance. Rather, Robin's journey from the crusades and through England, in which he prospers on fateful luck and earned respect, copies Ridley Scott's own Kingdom of Heaven. In their themes and ambition these three films are alike, but Robin Hood doesn't thrive from the comparison. Where flaws are shared, what made the other two great is oddly lacking in this latest historical epic from the director.
Robin Hood is a very professionally made film. Great actors, great production design, great images. It is nice to watch because you feel you are in the capable hands of Ridley Scott. But do not expect to be amazed by the story or the acting. Apart from dame Marion, the characters are two dimensional and predictable. The film pretends to be historically correct, but is of course a well dressed fantasy. There are a few battle scenes, filmed in the Gladiator way. They are exciting, but not very convincing. In fact, they are completely ridiculous when you think you are watching a historically correct film. The worst for me were the boats in the final battle, apparently trying to induce a D-Day feeling.
Overall, the story is off balance. Some scenes have a very slow pace, while other scenes, often key elements that explain how Robin Hood came into existence, are reduced to a few shots and proclamations. The end of the film tells it all: it reminds us that we were supposed to see the story of how the legend of Robin Hood started. The makers just forgot to tell it.