The Last of Robin Hood

We rented this DVD yesterday and enjoyed it thoroughly, thanks to the amazing cast, director, writers, editors, and everyone involved in recreating the awesome 1950s retro "look" of the film (super-cool furniture, cars, wardrobe, make-up, etc.) We love truthful biopics on Hollywood's greatest actors and this film stayed true to the real story, which was absolutely fascinating. The movie moves so quickly that there is not one boring second in the entire film! Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandon, Dakota Fanning should all get Oscars for their amazing performances. (Would love to see Susan Sarandon play Bette Davis in a biopic.) I think the real Beverly Aadland would be proud to see how her story was presented on film (she stayed dedicated and completely in love with Errol Flynn through her whole life). Highly recommend this film to anyone who loves the actors from The Golden Age of Hollywood. "The Last of Robin Hood" deserves way more than 10 stars! We need more amazing films like this!

The first time I saw Errol Flynn in a movie was The Dawn Patrol. I was blown away by his talent, since I'd expected him to be a swashbuckling stereotype; but, I was also impressed that someone in 1938 could give such a spot-on impression of an actor who hadn't yet been born: Kevin Kline. Once I found out Kevin Kline had made a biopic of Errol Flynn, I rented it as soon as I could.

The Last of Robin Hood is quite sad, as it focuses on the last portion of the great legend's life. I'll never understand why it took Hollywood so long to cast Kevin Kline in this movie, since he made a smash as "The Pirate King" in 1983. Had they cast him in an Errol Flynn biopic in 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000, it could have been a different kind of movie. The story could have been more exciting, featuring a star at the beginning of his career, or making a particularly memorable film. This movie shows how the great swashbuckler declined, his dependence on alcohol, his lack of career prospects, and his shocking romance with an underage girl. It's not uplifting, it doesn't honor his legacy, and it doesn't even pay tribute to his great talent. Simply put, it's depressing. If Flynn himself saw this movie, he'd probably be mortified.

Why is this movie worth watching, then? Because Kevin Kline is Errol Flynn. He brings the silver screen heartthrob back to life and puts him in another movie, something we all would love to see. Just as Robert Downey Jr. becomes Charlie Chaplin so completely, you forget it's not a documentary, you'll start to believe there were hidden cameras around Flynn's home that captured him in embarrassing moments. I might not have enjoyed watching this movie, but I was in awe of Kevin Kline's talent-just like I was of Errol Flynn's in The Dawn Patrol.

Errol Flynn, a "Larger than Life" Movie Star who Shined as Brightly as His On Screen Persona would let Him. An Adventurous and Handsome Man with Agile Abilities and a Killer Smile Who Could and Would Woo Audiences and Young Girls with Equal Ease.

His Self-Destructive Lifestyle is Legendary. In this Movie, Kevin Kline States..."I was told by a Doctor that if I didn't stop drinking and doing drugs I would be dead in six months...that was ten years ago and I have lived every day and night since, as if it would be my last."

He certainly Did. Considered a Rogue, a Womanizer, and Immature (all true), Flynn was a Likable and Fun Guy to be Around by most Accounts.

It seems that Beverly Aadland (Dakota Fanning) was Smitten and this is Their Story. The Last Two Years of Flynn's Life, totally Dedicated to Beverly, are Seen here as a Romantic Tale of Two People that are Devoted.

Sure, the Age Difference is Extreme and She is Under Age (15 but posses a birth certificate stating she's 18, acquired by her career controlling Mom played by Susan Sarandon). In the Movie Their Illicit Behavior is Shown as Respectful and Not Salacious.

It's a Little Movie about a Big Star and a Chorus Girl, Not an Unfamiliar Situation, and the Film Plays it perfectly Straight and Not Explosive.

The Good Cast is Better than the Soft-Peddled Script and Everything is Underwritten, Underplayed, and Undeserving of "My Wicked Wicked Ways" Author and Beverly Aadland.

Not an Awful Account of what happened, but perhaps Not as Good as it Might Have Been. Fiction is Stranger than Truth. After Viewing this You Might Not Think that Their Relationship was that Strange after all.

"In like Flynn," a colloquial expression based on the dissolute life of Errol Flynn.

Because Kevin Kline looks like an aging Errol Flynn (he died at 50), it's easy to believe Kline's depiction of the swashbuckling roué from early 20th Century American film in The Last of Robin Hood. Yet, if you want really to experience the bad boy who gave Robin life, read his autobiography, My Wicked, Wicked Ways. Sadly this film is a dull, soporific take on the last years of Flynn.

Not that Kevin Kline doesn't have the ability to be roguish like Flynn, it's just that he appears to have been directed to underplay the famous rake, a letdown for those of us hoping to experience the wild wicked one. Instead, this Flynn is pursuing a much younger woman, Beverly Aadland (Dakota Fanning), with a feeling of entitlement and an ennui-subtle sense of "been there."

More interesting than the moribund Flynn is Beverly's mom, Florence (Susan Sarandon) -- a stage mom if there ever was one. Her machinations to get her daughter into films are almost unbelievable. When she realizes her underage daughter is sleeping with Flynn, the other side of her ambition, the love of a mother, rings true as a contrast. However, she allows the affair. To their credit, Fanning and Kline seem to care about each other to the extent that any moral outrage about statutory rape is slightly mitigated.

Although the script doesn't allow for the dramatic energy that should accompany his shenanigans, brightening the dim movie is Sarandon's ambitious mom with dorky glasses and fat—she steals whatever show there is to take.

So if you want to witness the quiet decline of a glamorous pedophile, the coda to Flynn's checkered life is gently carried out by Kevin Kline as if in hospice. It's the last of an outrageous actor. R.I.P.

Anthony Hopkins and Toby Jones did amazing work as Alfred Hitchcock; Meryl Streep was incredible as Margaret Thatcher while Helen Mirren was gobsmacking as the Queen, but Kevin Kline's portrayal of the aging Errol Flynn is positively eerie.

He looks like him, he speaks like him and he has caught the mannerisms. Kline was 15 years older than Flynn, but Errol's hard-living evened things up; its almost as though he has crossed back from the other side.

To modern generations, Errol Flynn, if they have heard of him at all, would have to be of passing interest at best, and this movie about his last love affair with Beverly Aadland must seem an odd little movie. Dakota Fanning may even be of more interest. Possibly they would also be put off by the age difference between Errol and Beverly - he was pushing 50 and she was 15.

However for those of us who were alive when Flynn was still making films, and were interested enough to read any of the books about the guy, this movie is close to fascinating.

With some knowledge of his life, you have to appreciate all the little touches seeded throughout the film. One was the way the relationship with Beverly starts with Flynn trying his well-practiced technique of seducing women by discussing with a co-conspirator in front of them how perfect they would be for a part in an upcoming production.

However, after taking advantage of her in a somewhat disturbing scene, his feelings for her go beyond a quick conquest and they become involved in an oddly-matched and dangerous relationship.

Much of the movie is told from the viewpoint of Beverly's mother, Florence, played by Susan Sarandon, who comes across as the stage mother from hell.

Rather than being overshadowed by Kline, it's Dakota Fanning's movie too. She underplays while projecting naïveté on the one hand, and worldliness beyond her years on the other. The last part of the movie shows the effect her unwanted celebrity has on her stability, while Florence actually revels in it.

The film has been criticised, scathingly by some reviewers, not only for skimpy production values, but also for sanitising the relationship, and for not taking more of a moral stance over the underage aspect. However, I do feel we are made aware of the situation throughout the film, and it doesn't ever really get a seal of approval.

Nevertheless, according to Roland Fisher, Beverly Aadland's husband of 40 years, she admitted to loving Errol Flynn until the day she died (in 2010).

Knowing a fair bit about the subject probably has a lot to do with whether or not you will appreciate this film - I for one found it totally absorbing.