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The story of an archer in the army of Richard Coeur de Lion who fights against the Norman invaders and becomes the legendary hero known as Robin Hood.
Russell Crowe: Robin Longstride
Cate Blanchett: Marion Loxley
Ridley Scott is a master when it comes to film making and visionary realization. Just look at his sci-fi legacies Blade Runner and Alien as a beginning to a long resume of fine creations. Ridley over time moved away from Science Fiction to sate lavish interest with history and real time, capturing epic grandeur with artistic means.
His best work would have to be Gladiator, while Black Hawk Down, Body of Lies and the robotic Kingdom Of Heaven show Ridley can still make a good film, although perhaps consistency remains in question.
Robin Hood proves what a charismatic cast can achieve and a solid screenplay that equals cleverness can conjure.
Ridley weaves the whole picture majestically well, essentially bringing to life a legendary character in a light never seen before in any previous films or literal manifestations.
What would I say I find most rewarding from Robin Hood? For a start, it has a believable humour and resonance about it. The cast have a sombre English feel, with accents that match, Russel Crowe & Cate Blanchett are essentially not Oscar Winners for nothing. They embody their roles with believability and credibility that has us rooting for them, feeling in a sense what they experience. It's very clever of Ridley Scott to choose such wonderful actresses and actors and bring the best out of them.
Max von Sydow, William Hurt, Mark Strong, Oscar Isaac and a short appearance from Danny Huston all grace the screen and add performances with the valour, battles and drama that ensues.
Who can also forget Robin's friends? Little John, Will Scarlet and Friar Tuck. They definitely add laughs, empathy and sensuality audiences can warm to. If Kingdom of Heaven lacked one thing, it lacked this, soul and depth. This is not robotic, this is very human thus we have fun and enjoy the ride.
Robin Hood is perhaps not what mainstream viewers would predict envisioning. This isn't a story about Robin Hood hiding out in the forest, helping the poor and fighting the Sheriff of Nottingham; This is an origin tale, a sort of prequel.
Robin is returning from the crusades with a king whom has followed his ambitions and religious conquests in Jerusalem. The Country thus has been bled dry by the expenses of such a campaign. When Robin ends up accidentally taking the identity of another, after the Lionheart King is killed by a French cook's arrow, we see a chain of events unfold that are fantastical and vast.
Is Robin Hood historically accurate? Not quite. Is it the closest, grittiest envisioning ever to grace the screen? I'd say it comes very close. What the film results in being is an artful epic that has the battle scenes, it has the character interactions, the costumes, the locations, and the setting up for another great successor; A sequel.
Ultimately, the film has it's strengths and weaknesses. The constant location jumping at times defies belief and perhaps the lengthy time the film endures will not be appreciated with mass audiences.
Robin Hood owes a great deal not just to Ridley but to Brian Helgeland's screenplay and story set up, which works wonders when put into effect.
The last battle scene however does have me raising questions over whether Ridley has been watching Saving Private Ryan, with French Boats opening in a way that I never recollected for that day and age. The more puzzling realizations are whether Nottingham and the distance to Mid-Lands coasts are essentially where the French attacked, are also confounding. Why attack in these distant regions?
Puzzlement aside, Robin Hood was admittedly very enjoyable, very different, and extremely lavish. It takes a brave film maker to pull of such a task and to even tackle a legendary character such as Robin Hood but Ridley Scott does it. He makes his own brand and mark upon this legend, and the research, sweat and tears that went into this film's making shows. It's a labour of love from Ridley; A man whom sometimes mixes artistic license with his own vision and scope regarding history.
Thanks Ridley, we are entertained yet again. Now, can you be a good boy and get on with adapting Brave New World for the big screen please?
''If you're building for the future, you need to keep your foundations strong, laws of the land enslave the people to a king who demands loyalty but offers nothing in return, I've been to the South of France, Palestine and back, you build a kingdom the same way you build a cathedral from the ground up!''
8/10
