Robin Hood Returns

Saw the new Robin Hood today with a friend for his b-day. It received a lot of hype so we thought it would be pretty good, and it did start quite well. It was set before the traditional Robin Hood as an outlaw fighting against the Sheriff of Nottingham during a war between France and England which England appeared to be winning. My friend noticed that the opening narration claimed that it was the turn of the twelfth century, but the caption at the bottom read 1199, the turn of the 13^th century.

In retrospect, we should have realised then, but we kept on watching. The next bit was full of action, a huge battle filled with brilliant effects and action. Robin is an average archer, but he manages to play a bigger role than this, he saves some guy called Johnny or something like that in a moment of epic epicness, they help the English defeat the evil French and win the battle of the day. They set up camp and rest for the final assault the next day.

I wasn’t paying much attention to the next bit, but Robin pretty much screams “You suck” at the King. The King praises him for his honesty then locks him in some stocks as well as some other guys who seem to be Robin’s best friends. Johnny from the day before helps them to escape as the battle between the French and English commences, the next 10 minutes is very good and well worth watching.

So the battle was brilliant, everything good about director Ridley Scott is shown in those scenes. After this however, it drops in standards steeply. If any of you have seen Gladiator, you’ll know that it starts with a lot of action, little bits of action slowly through the main plot, then a big finish. Robin Hood is similar in that respect, but the break between beginning action and end action is twice as big, and there is no action during this break. Over an hour of uninteresting conversation and acting that does not stand up to the brilliance of the Robin Hood name.

I’m still wondering how it ends, because we left halfway through. So if you are reading this and haven’t decided what to watch at the movies tonight, choose something, anything, but not this. 0.5 of 5 stars