This isn't going to be your normal review, not going to score it out of 10, or 100, or give it a letter grade, I feel that those do not always accurately describe a movie in all of its parts. Here we go. SPOILERS FOLLOW.
When I first heard this movie was coming out, it was after I saw the entire BBC series which I had really enjoyed from start to finish. I was overjoyed at the announcement. I was even more excited when I read that this would be a prequel of sorts explaining his backstory of becoming an outlaw, which the BBC discussed at the beginning, and then there were several flashbacks. I was also pleased to hear that Prince John would be promenant. I was nervous to hear that Guy of Gisborne had been cut and replaced with a traitor to the French named Godfrey, but I'll get into that later.
Besides the annoying French **** and his wife who kept talking throughout the ENTIRE movie next to me, and even answered a cell phone call loudly, I had a very pleasant and interesting experience with this movie. Robin Longstride is nothing more than an average archer, but a decent man. I was extremely bothered how he stole the identity of Robert Locksley and turned into Robin Locksley. I think the BBC version portrayed him more as a all-around hero and good man where this is Americanized and hes less of a hero at first. I felt like the movie started off strong, and fast with a very good and exciting pace then hit a dead stop, like the level of emotion was out of place and wasn't a gradual increase. I felt the actress protraying Marion was good, yet too old. Russel Crowe also seems too old, but does an excellent job. The action scenes were enjoyable, but you could see where they made it less violent for the PG-13 rating.
About an hour into this movie I was bummed, I was so excited for it and I felt like this re-imagining totally destroyed my idea of Robin Hood. However by the end I was extremely pleased and I finally understood this new way of looking at the character. Seeing him grow to be more and more of a hero as he learns more about himself and what it means to be part of a family and a citizen where we see Prince..now King John stuggle with his own self discovery. The end battle was good, yet I have one major nit pick about it.
WERE THOSE HIGGINS BOATS? YOU KNOW, FROM WORLD WAR II? The last battle was basically Saving Private Ryan 800 years before it happened. There were these metal looking boats, same shape, crossing a channel to get to a beach. They had crossbowman instead of machine gunners and the ramped opened up and they were shot down by a flurry of arrows. It was such an obvious reference to SPR, but it was still very good. Another thing I was dissapointed in was how little they showed the Merry Men, we meet Friar Tuck, Little John, Alan A Dale, and Will Scarlet (played by guy from Firefly/Serenity?) and they have some funny scenes, but they don't play much of a role in the main plot. The same thing goes with the Sheriff of Nottingham, we seem him twice for a minute at a time then he dies as far as we know..lame
There could definately be a sequel, seeing as King John only declares him an outlaw in the second last scene. Maybe the next one will have a new evil Sheriff who hires a Guy of Gisborne to hunt Robin, for a more traditional movie.
Anyway, you'll hate it then love it by the end, its a long one, about 2 hours and 20-30 minutes more.
Questions? Comments? Share opinions.
When I first heard this movie was coming out, it was after I saw the entire BBC series which I had really enjoyed from start to finish. I was overjoyed at the announcement. I was even more excited when I read that this would be a prequel of sorts explaining his backstory of becoming an outlaw, which the BBC discussed at the beginning, and then there were several flashbacks. I was also pleased to hear that Prince John would be promenant. I was nervous to hear that Guy of Gisborne had been cut and replaced with a traitor to the French named Godfrey, but I'll get into that later.
Besides the annoying French **** and his wife who kept talking throughout the ENTIRE movie next to me, and even answered a cell phone call loudly, I had a very pleasant and interesting experience with this movie. Robin Longstride is nothing more than an average archer, but a decent man. I was extremely bothered how he stole the identity of Robert Locksley and turned into Robin Locksley. I think the BBC version portrayed him more as a all-around hero and good man where this is Americanized and hes less of a hero at first. I felt like the movie started off strong, and fast with a very good and exciting pace then hit a dead stop, like the level of emotion was out of place and wasn't a gradual increase. I felt the actress protraying Marion was good, yet too old. Russel Crowe also seems too old, but does an excellent job. The action scenes were enjoyable, but you could see where they made it less violent for the PG-13 rating.
About an hour into this movie I was bummed, I was so excited for it and I felt like this re-imagining totally destroyed my idea of Robin Hood. However by the end I was extremely pleased and I finally understood this new way of looking at the character. Seeing him grow to be more and more of a hero as he learns more about himself and what it means to be part of a family and a citizen where we see Prince..now King John stuggle with his own self discovery. The end battle was good, yet I have one major nit pick about it.
WERE THOSE HIGGINS BOATS? YOU KNOW, FROM WORLD WAR II? The last battle was basically Saving Private Ryan 800 years before it happened. There were these metal looking boats, same shape, crossing a channel to get to a beach. They had crossbowman instead of machine gunners and the ramped opened up and they were shot down by a flurry of arrows. It was such an obvious reference to SPR, but it was still very good. Another thing I was dissapointed in was how little they showed the Merry Men, we meet Friar Tuck, Little John, Alan A Dale, and Will Scarlet (played by guy from Firefly/Serenity?) and they have some funny scenes, but they don't play much of a role in the main plot. The same thing goes with the Sheriff of Nottingham, we seem him twice for a minute at a time then he dies as far as we know..lame
There could definately be a sequel, seeing as King John only declares him an outlaw in the second last scene. Maybe the next one will have a new evil Sheriff who hires a Guy of Gisborne to hunt Robin, for a more traditional movie.
Anyway, you'll hate it then love it by the end, its a long one, about 2 hours and 20-30 minutes more.
Questions? Comments? Share opinions.
