If you are a fan of Russell Crowe or have ever wondered where Robin Hood came from, this movie is a must-see. Otherwise, the bland plotline, Old English accents, spotty French, and tantrum-throwing King John might do you in. Oh wait! If you have a thing for bald villains like Mark Strong you ought to give this movie a shot as well.
Writer Brian Helgeland has re-imagined the beginnings of Robin Hood in the historical context of a transition from one English monarch to another and the eternal rivalry with France. Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) is presented as an excellent archer in Richard’s army, returning from a ten-year crusade. However, Robin’s blunt honesty and naïveté land him, Allan A’Dayle (Alan Doyle), Little John (Kevin Durand), and Will Scarlet (Scott Grimes) in some serious political fallout when Richard dies in battle. Robin is forced to pose as a slain knight, Robert of Loxley, in order to get his band out of France and out of trouble. Robin’s promise to the dying Robert leads his band to Nottingham village. Sir Walter of Nottingham (Max von Sydow), arranges for Robin to continue role-playing as husband to Marion of Loxley (Cate Blanchett), Walter’s daughter and Robert’s widow. This is an attempt to cheer the depressed, poor, over-taxed and largely female village populace. All the lads have run off into the woods to become poachers. The new clergyman in Nottingham, Friar Tuck (Mark Addy), adds a great deal of support for Robin and honey mead for everyone else.
On the southern side of England, royal politics heat up very quickly. Acquisitive John (Oscar Isaac) succeeds his brother Richard as King soon after marrying French tart Isabella of Angoulême (Léa Seydoux). King John’s most trusted adviser, Godfrey (Mark Strong), strikes a deal with King Phillip of France behind England’s back. Conveniently for the plotline, Godfrey thinks “Robert of Loxley” knows too much for his own good. So the man hunt, civil war, and national war commence, at least in theory.
The future Merry Men and saucy Marion provide all the humor a witty action film requires. Although the panoramic battlefield shots will not be making film history, they are, for lack of more suitable language, pretty epic. Robin of the Hood manages to combine all the contradictions a good legend ought to have (although there’s no saying how much of this character interpretation is an outgrowth of Russell Crowe’s actor persona): honest yet deceptive, clever yet naïve, profound yet thoroughly mundane, egalitarian yet phallocentric, and of course, romantic yet sometimes utterly anticlimactic.
The plot takes an interesting philosophical turn that you won’t see coming. Perhaps you will appreciate how true to 12th century life the griminess is throughout the film. See it if only to enliven your historical imagination, which has been so thoroughly tarnished by classroom education.
