Robin Hood (Review)

Robin Hood is Far From a Bullseye.

Robin Hood was one of the many movies I was looking forward to this November. While there is a lot that this film did to revitalize the source material for modern audiences (with quite a few relevant parts gussied up), ultimately it was hardly one of the better movies I’ve seen this month. Despite the polish it receives, the action sequences and a lot of the story remain uninspired and relatively snooze-worthy. Unfortunately, this incarnation of the fabled archer fails to hit his mark.

I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a fan of Taron Egerton since he hit the ground running in the Kingsman movies, and he’s probably the best part of Robin Hood. However, not even his charm can get me to ignore how unfulfilling this film ends up being. This time around, the film focuses on the fact that Robin was initially a Crusader sent to fight the Moors at the behest of the Church. During the first ten minutes or so, we get to see him in action during the war. Here is where we get to see the first modern update to the style of the film as Otto Bathurst creates dramatic parallels with modern warfare. It’s not without its bits of absurdity as we watch the Crusaders moving like well-trained Navy SEALs with bows instead of assault rifles, but it serves as a dramatic backdrop to introduce Robin to his faithful companion Little John (Jamie Foxx).

Of course, this is far from the only modern parallel that Robin Hood plays up. Writers David James Kelly and Ben Chandler really stick it to the church, xenophobic warmongers, and the 1%. As most people know, Robin Hood steals from the rich and gives to the poor, but this time around the tale is a bit more bogged down than that. The infamous Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn) is still doing his part to take every last cent from the poor people of the “small” town, but this time his evil plotting goes much deeper and it just so happens that the Cardinal of the church is more than a little responsible for whispering terrible nothings into his ear. While I’m a big fan of social commentary in films, Robin Hood goes a bit overboard with things. So much so, that the seductive Maid Marian (Eve Hewson) is reduced to the medieval equivalent of a keyboard warrior without a hashtag.

With archers getting plenty of love in recent history from the Avenger’s Hawkeye to Lord of the Rings’ Legolas to even the CW’s Green Arrow, it’s a shame that Bathurst isn’t able to do more with the action sequences. They’re all filled with overly dramatic moments filled with slow motion and faceless goons getting shot down. The scenes are so cheesy and cliche that they give the entire movie a feeling that’s vaguely reminiscent of old-school wire-fu flicks, but without the guilty satisfaction that comes with them. Unfortunately, this leads to a total lack of any sort of urgency, because Robin is simply too good for everyone that the Sheriff throws at him. Even with Robin Hood tires to introduce a worthy villain in the form of Paul Anderson of Peaky Blinders fame, there’s no doubt that Robin will skip away unscathed, which is a huge let down because it makes all the attempts at epic sequences pointless.

There are certainly a number of moments that make Robin Hood enjoyable. Egerton and Foxx are actually quite good as the two heroes of this tale, especially given the almost Bruce Wayne like persona that Robin of Loxley takes on in order to get close to the Sheriff. I’d even go so far as to say that Tim Minchin quips as Friar Tuck earn a chuckle or two. However, these moments are too far and few between to make this a truly great film. Instead, the script is so busy trying to push the characters towards what they eventually become in the fables, especially when it comes to Jamie Dornan’s Will Scarlett, that it doesn’t give us a chance to appreciate who they actually are. Because of this, all of them feel like shallow representations of their original rich characters.

Robin Hood was definitely a let down for me. Sure, there are some cool parts in this film, but none of them manage to make the film overly memorable. Instead, it feels like a film that never really takes the time to look at the details. This is more evident than ever in the costuming in which a number of pieces look like they were bought at a Walmart and then dirtied up for the camera. Overall, this is just another disappointing film that probably looked good on paper (or in a trailer) but lacks the vision to make it memorable in the end.