R?dley Scott has a penchant for mak?ng b?g mov?es w?th sweep and
grandeur and th?s ?s definitely one of them despi?te some of the ludite
cr?t?cs reviews who either don’t much know or don’t much care about
English h?story.  This mov?e has all the elements of a truly great
fi?lm:  1) excellent actors at the top of their game (Crowe, Blanchett, Hurt,
Von Sydow and others)  2) an ep?c story to tell about a well known
legendary f?gure and yet an unfamiliar story  (Robin….the early years)
3) spectacular c?nematography ?n a gorgeous country (England ?n spr?ng and
summer), 4) an unlikely romance, 5) drama where there is a d?scernable
d?fference between good and evil and 6) plenty of act?on but also humor, 7) a
lovely mus?cal score, and f?nally 8) a d?rector who knows where and when to
end a huge tale. Th?s ?s a movie I went to see three times to
take in all its d?alogue and depth. and I would say this mov?e ?s the
pick of the summer flicks thus far. 
 
 
As for part?culars, in a telling interview done by Russell Crowe he stresses the variety and quantity of sources, often with variant traditions, about this man. He is right about this, and it is the merit of this film that it focuses not on the more familiar ‘rob from the rich, give to the poor’ tale which covers a later period in Robin’s life, but rather the Crusader period of the man’s life and the ascension to the thrown of John after the untimely death of Richard Lion Heart.

If you want to see another period film that fills out the picture in important ways with equally excellent acting, watch Lion in Winter. ( the Peter O’Toole, Katherine Hepburn film, which has Anthony Hopkins as Richard Lion Heart in his first feature film role).  There are some scenes in this most recent Robin Hood film which do not work (e.g. the wild boys being led by Maid Marion on ponies charging the French in the final battle scene), but on the whole this film is miles ahead of the lackluster Kevin Costner depiction of Robin in films of the last couple of decades.  Some will have to cleanse there minds of other Robin Hoods (e.g. the show on TV from my early childhood) in order to appreciate this film, but there is much to appreciate here, and I hope it will have a better fate and audience than Costner’s Robin Hood.