Country: USA / UK
Genre: Action / Drama
Direction: Ridley Scott
Cast: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Max von Sydow, William Hurt, Mark Strong, Oscar Isaac, Danny Huston, Kevin Durand, Matthew Macfadyen, Mark Addy and Scott Grimes
Director Ridley Scott and actor Russell Crowe reunite for their fifth big-screen outing, a retelling of the Robin Hood legend featuring the Gladiator star in the titular role. A bowman in the army of Richard Coeur de Lion, virtuous rogue Robin Hood rises from an unlikely background to become a hero to the impoverished people of Nottingham and lover to the beautiful Lady Marion (Cate Blanchett). Cyrus Voris, Ethan Reiff, and Brian Helgeland collaborate on the screenplay for a costume adventure produced by Brian Grazer (Frost/Nixon, American Gangster).
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Movie Review:
Sometimes, it's easier to see when a movie goes south than where. For Robin Hood, it was almost a pre-determined verdict: This film isn't the one that was originally pitched, the female lead was replaced by a completely different type of performer and, at one point, the production was delayed so the foliage would be in bloom.
And so, the end result, the movie we see, just never hits its stride. It would be tough to know why that happens without that bit of production history. This one went south before it ever started.
In fairness, there are admirable qualities about Robin Hood, and the best analogy I can think of is walking through a model home and taking note of all the great amenities, but no matter what room you walk into, you always hear the walls creak. This isn't a bad movie, simply an undercooked, mediocre one, which, when you consider all it should have going for it, actually makes it seem worse.
The story needs no introduction, except maybe to writer Brian Helgeland. The actors - Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Max Von Sydow, William Hurt - all bring with them a reassuring presence for the audience. Familiar faces if not familiar names Mark Strong and Danny Huston do the voodoo they do so well. You can argue that Blanchett, if not miscast, is certainly under- utilized. She's a force of nature relegated to a supporting female role that only ocassionally does lip service to her stature as one of the five or ten greatest and most versatile film actors alive.
Crowe, regrettably, falls into what he has done so well over the years, simply whipping a film into subservience. Honestly, go back and watch The Insider and L.A. Confidential, when Crowe was Brando and Burton rolled into one. The process of creating characters seems to be less important to him or, I hope, to the films.
He's just not that interesting here, though he's certainly willful, and great actors have the ability to rise above their script, finding ways to liven it up. There is no nuance here like you'll find in Master and Commander; it's not as much a performance as it is a role.
But director Ridley Scott still has a classic tale that has lived on for centuries and a wonderfully talented ensemble. However, the script by is too muscular and monotonous for its own good and certainly its exhaustive length. And if the title character is so underwritten, imagine the lack of dimension for the supporting players.
In addition to that, Robin Hood has the subtelty of a soccer hooligan. It's loud, big, and big. That could be Scott trying to mask a screenplay that had to be rushed in the first place (see paragraph one), but it's not a combination that works. And it's not really much of a Robin Hood; it could just as easily be about any other medieval warrior, and it might actually be better off that way.
Because it's Ridley Scott, though, some of the action scenes are quite good and the photography is typically gorgeous. There are shades of Saving Private Ryan in one scene, a rather curious lift of one of the epochal battle scenes ever committed to film by a director who doesn't need the help.
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