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This is now the 12th film adaptation on the heroic high-skilled archer and swordsman known as Robin Hood. Because of the large amount of films made based on him would have made an effect on critics and fans expectations and overall opinions of the 2010 version. I guaranteed that Robin Hood was going to be either as amazing as Gladiator, as good as King Arthur or as shit as Kingdom Of Heaven but it turned out better than King Arthur but nowhere near as good as Gladiator! I think the main flaws were that it did not really feel like a Robin Hood story and it was incredibly slow. It wasn't very epic either like the trailer demonstrated.
Robin Hood is set in late 12th Century England. Robin Longstride is a common archer in the Third Crusade. Following the death of Richard the Lionheart in battle, Robin and three other common soldiers (aka Merry Men) attempt to return to their homeland, having spent ten years fighting abroad. Along the way they come across an ambush of the King's guard by Sir Godfrey, an English Knight with French lineage and allegiance. When King Richard dies, his younger brother John is crowned king. Russell Crowe collaborates for a fifth time with Ridley Scott as Robin. After seeing a couple of still pictures and trailers, I was thinking that there might be a second Maximus on our hands or "Maximus back from the dead" so to speak. It was a good thing that they were different but seeing Crowe as the heroic Robin as a leader during a battle, it bought back old memories of Maximus in Gladiator. Sienna Miller was originally playing Lady Marion but Cate Blanchett took over. To be honest, I am glad that she took over because Marion is the love interest of Robin and it would look better seeing as she is almost the same age as Russell Crowe. Mark Strong is becoming a real Hollywood star as of late starring in a lot of fantastic films such as Stardust, Sherlock Holmes and Kick-Ass. Robin Hood is another fantastic film with him in and now I am beginning to see him as a villain. If he ever plays a heroic character, I would find it quite lame seeing as he is more of the villain type.
Ridley Scott crafts together his third historic epic. His first one was a giant success (Gladiator) and the next one was a real disappointment (Kingdom Of Heaven) but Robin Hood, on the other hand, was a success but doesn't quite live up to Gladiator. This time, 10 years ago, Gladiator was released and Ridley Scott tries to make Robin Hood like "the Gladiator of the 2010s" with obviously a historic plot but with similar production settings, music and costumes. Most of the filming was in Wales for the action scenes but the castles and fields were mostly in Surrey. I think this would've really failed if it was directed by a non-English director or if it wasn't filmed in the UK. Great that it was filmed in Wales as well as England. The script had to be rewritten seeing as Ridley Scott didn't approve of it and that delayed filming even further. I did think the script was pretty good. Quite soppy in some moments but apart from that, awesome!
Overall, Robin Hood is a fairly decent Ridley Scott-Russell Crowe collaboration but did have its disappointments. It is more like King Arthur. Both of them can do so much better!
