FILM REVIEW Robin Hood

Trying to see Sherwood for the trees


Cinema
Daniel Carey

ROBIN Hood inspired one of the best apocryphal stories of the early 1990s. It tells of a young couple so taken with the Kevin Costner film ‘Prince of Thieves’ that they requested the Bryan Adams title song, ‘(Everything I Do) I Do It For You’, to be played at their wedding. Asked for the Robin Hood theme, the elderly organist proceeded to play the theme to the 1950s TV show: “Robin Hood, Robin Hood riding through the glen …”
Every generation has its own Robin Hood. Long before I had seen him on the big screen, the outlaw was my childhood hero, second only to legendary footballer Diego Maradona. I was able to recite by heart the words of a (short) book called ‘Robin Hood and the Gold Arrow’, and until recently, still had the tape to prove it.
Now, Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe have teamed up (again) for ‘Robin Hood’, which is basically a prequel to the story we know. The absence of widespread robbing from the rich to give to the poor may leave some viewers disappointed – especially in the era of bank bailouts. Crowe’s accent has rightly come in for criticism, though in a medium replete with dodgy brogues, some might find it rather quaint that a decent Irish burr has made it into a film where it doesn’t belong.
It’s the turn of the 12th century. Robin Longstride (Crowe) is part of Richard The Lionheart’s army, sacking and pillaging its way through France on its way home from the Crusades. He ticks the king off over a massacre and is put in the stocks, but catches a lucky break when the old monarch dies in battle.
Seeking passage to England, Robin passes himself off as the king’s friend Sir Robert Loxley and brings home the crown – as well as a sword which the (now dead) Loxley took from his father Walter (played by Max von Sydow). Since the elder Loxley’s estate will revert to the king if he has no heir, Robin agrees to pretend to be the returned knight. This means sharing a bed chamber with his supposed wife – the feisty, practical Lady Marian (Cate Blanchett), who carries a dagger and vows to sever his ‘manhood’ should he ‘so much as move’ to touch her.
For all the echoes of ‘Sommersby’, there’s a gritty realism to ‘Robin Hood’ – no tights in sight – and plenty to keep you entertained. There are lots of battle scenes and a bit of arrow action, but the 12 cert means precious little blood and guts are visible.
Brian Helgeland’s screenplay features some memorable dialogue. “You are English?” Loxley Jr asks the villainous Godfrey (Mark Strong). “When it suits me,” he replies. Advised to leave a fellow soldier behind, Robin says: “The more the merrier.”
There are cameo appearances for Friar Tuck, the local beekeeper-cum-priest, and the Sheriff of Nottingham (Matthew Macfadyen), an unimportant bureaucrat rather than Alan Rickman’s incarnation of evil.
The main problem with this ‘Robin Hood’ is that it’s too crowded. There is, as one critic put it, a whole lot of meanwhile going on. We flit from the King of France to the Tower of London, from French woods to nocturnal raids in Nottingham, from invasion threats to civil war. Alliances shift and Magna Carta pops up out of nowhere. While the whole world wanted Crowe’s Maximus to have his vengeance over Joaquin Phoenix, silly King John – who has never ever been in battle – seems an unworthy adversary.
Still, after a cinematic month to forget, you’ll do a lot worse. Roll on part two.

Rating 6 out 10