Robin Hood

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.

This is my first review for IMDb inspired by the long dissertation on how disappointing this Robin turned out to be.

I, on the other hand believe that all the buggers did a fine & entertaining job. It certainly is no Citizen Kaine & if this Robin Hood does become a trilogy, I do not think it will fair as well as The Lord of the Rings trilogy. One can hope that this Robin Hood will only improve as did TLOTR. Time will tell...

As stated, the movie was entertaining. As a prequel it set the story to come rather well. It did run a bit long but it is after all, a large tale. As anyone who has ever had a favorite book turned into a film knows, that film rendition is simply not going to have the nuance that one gets from reading a book at your on pace & with your own vision. So many are so disappointed by the lack of that nuance that they simply cant relax & enjoy the vision of a master director such as Ridley Scott.

It is your loss if you go into this movie with unreasonable expectations that will keep you from enjoying this film.

I give this movie a 7 of 10. There were, IMO a few CGI flaws & a few slow moments. If the tale continues I hope to see more development among the minor characters.

A last thought, if this is the only segment of any proposed trilogy, then this movie is able stand alone.

When I read that this Robin Hood was less action orientated I was a bit worried. What on earth for story is there to be told that we haven't seen in the other movies about Robin Hood. The answer is nothing.This version wants us to believe that Robin Hood is so much different than the Robin Hood we know. And while it is indeed refreshing to see this take on it. For the overall story it hasn't the slightest effect. The story we are told is not new or even compelling. Luckily there are some great actors who compensate this mess of a story to give it some meat. Max van Sydow comes to mind as one of the highlights in the movie. Personally I enjoyed the movie but expected so much more especially when you compare this to Ridly's earlier work like Gladiator or Kingdom of Heaven. The action scenes were more than decent. Too bad there were so few of them. The lack of action has to be compensated with a better story otherwise what is the point.

Technically and aesthetically accomplished, but empty of substance, and full of pretentiousness, this "Robin Hood" is, in my opinion, one absolutely unnecessary revision of the mythical English archer's story.

As it has repeatedly been pointed out, you should not go into this expecting to find one more version of the "prince of thieves" theme. This is rather the (embellished) narration of how Robin Longstride came to be Robin Hood. It presents all the known characters, though many of them are vastly underused, and it describes how they came to know each other and become involved in each other's lives. It is by all practical means a "prequel" to the classic legend of Robin Hood.

So Ridley Scott tried to take a new approach on a well-known story, but the results are not impressive. I was surprised at how boring this movie turned out to be. It is a failed epic, devoid of passion, adventure, or feeling. It is almost inevitable to compare this to "Gladiator", because the latter excels at all the points that "Robin Hood" fails at. Even the battle scenes feel boring, predictable, and not spectacular at all. The heart of the director and of the main actor are just not there, and it shows.

What I liked most about the movie was the revision of Lady Marian's character, well portrayed by Cate Blanchett, but that's about that. I would rather have watched "The adventures of Robin Hood" (1938) or "Robin Hood, prince of thieves" (1991) than waste two and a half hours on this disappointment.

My rating is 3/10.

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.