The story of Robin Hood has always been one of the great adventure stories. It told of the famous archer and his brigade of Merrymen from Sherwood Forest who assisted him as he righted the wrongs of Nottingham and stole from the rich to give to the poor. His times of living as an outlaw, his daring journeys, and opposition of his enemy King John always left a feeling of exileration to anyone who heard the story. It's hard to believe that Ridley Scott, the director who graced us with Gladiator, could take all feeling of adventure out of this classic tale. What should have been a thrilling expedition through Nottingham is reduced to nothing but a costume-adventure that's mostly a bore, and leaves the audience feeling empty.
Robin Longstride has been fighting in the Third Crusade for ten years under the leadership of King Richard the Lionheart. Not wanting to fight anymore, he runs away with a trio of friends who decide to abandon their army. The four of them travel back to Nottingham to report the death of a fellow soldier, Sir Robert Hoxley (Douglas Hodge). It is here where Robin Hood meets the beautiful Lady Marion (Cate Blanchett) and a relationship begins to blossom.
Meanwhile, King John (Oscar Issac) is focusing on his new duties as King of England, and is after any and all tax payments from his subjects. Little does he know, his childhood friend Godfrey (Mark Strong) is conspiring against him with King Philip of France, with the intention of starting an invasion of England. Forget about Robin Hood's famous feats of stealing for the poor; because this film is all backstory, and that's not a good thing. It practically ruins the movie.
The real Robin Hood story is out of the question at this point, being reduced to an average medieval period-piece rather than a soaring adventure. But one of the more disappointing aspects of the film is Russel Crowe's performance. He seems to be mimicing his Gladiator role for the whole movie, it's distracting. Cate Blanchett is decent, but somewhat forgettable as Lady Marion. Her character would have been a great deal more interesting if this were the Robin Hood story we're all familiar with, and would have depicted her relationship with him more vividly. Although there are glimpses their romance, we fail to see any sparks ignite. Two of the lone standouts in the film are Oscar Issac, who plays King John with convincing fierceness, and Mark Strong as the traitorous Godfrey.
What should have been a fun medieval quest turns out to be a dull origin story. What made Gladiator so gripping was with its 2 hour and 30 min. running time, it was able to balance dialogue with wonderful battle scenes. Although Robin Hood has about the same running time, it doesn't make good use of it. We get a battle in the film's opening, segments of near-nothingness, some sword-clashing and arrow-flying thrown in on the side, and a less-than-stellar battle in the finale. The very end of the movie show's the sentence "And so the legend begins," but at that point, we feel like Ridley Scott is the King of England and we're his subjects: he took our beloved hero, and we were robbed of the epic that was promised.
Final grade: C-
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment