Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Robin Hood is Robin my time and Robin my money

For those of you that live in a hole, Robin Hood came out in theaters this weekend. This the newest movie from (Sir) Ridley Scott. Now I have nothing against him as a director as far as visuals, but I think that he messed up on this movie.

As I have spoken (i.e. slightly ranted) about on the show, I first have a problem with the tag line of the film, "The untold story of how the Man became the Legend." I have a problem with something that is a legend/fiction and try to pass it off as history. (I'm looking at you King Arthur...) The legend came to be hundreds of years after the man actually would have lived.

My main problem is that they use the title of "Robin Hood" as an excuse to make crap up and do whatever they heck they want. Don't go to this movie thinking that you will get a retelling of the usual story that you hear. This movie has almost nothing to do with it, and though some say think of it as a prequel, I find it hard to believe with some of the things that they did put in the movie.

For those of you who didn't know, this movie stars Russell Crowe as Robin Longstride who is fighting in the Crusades with King Richard and they are on their way back and fighting in France. The king is suddenly killed, and Robin and his friends (one from just a few minutes previous.) escape the battle and decide to return to England. The king's crown is being delivered and the delivery men get ambushed and killed. Robin Longstride meets Robin of Locksley as he is dying, promises to return his sword to his father, and the crown to the country. Robin accepts and goes on his way.

Well along the way, he meets Maid Marian, and details, details. I will make this more about the flaws I thought that the movie has. First is these orphan children that serve absolutely no purpose in the movie, not to mention that it took a while to figure out who they actually were. They served no purpose until the end and even that was questionable.

This movie made it so that France was trying to attack England and doing it by causing political unrest, which never happened. They made it sound like the Robin's dad created the Magna Carta, and made it free for all men and did it at this point in history, which again didn't happen.

Eventually the differing sides meet up together at the "White Horse" which is made in the wrong century (and nearly 600 years later, I might add). Then they make a magical journey to the white cliffs of Dover, which is quite far away but they make the journey in only minutes. Not only that but the people that they left behind near Sherwood, have been able to sneak up and be able to join the fight and in full armor to boot! Thank you Cate Blanchett for your random appearance as well the the king of france (who only appears twice.)

In the end the movie was too long (could have been half the length) and the story seemed pieced together. However, I will say that the cinematography is great, as well the acting, and costume and set design. This really does look like it is in medieval times. The music is good as well. The movie is quite watchable though long. I would agree with most critics in a 2 or 2 1/2 stars. The movie is fine but I feel like it should not belong in the second week of the summer movie season. My advice is to go see Iron Man 2 again, or save your money for later this summer. Until next time, this is Zach signing out!

1 comment:

  1. So, as far as word of mouth goes, I haven't heard anything good about this movie so far. Good thing too--I think Ridley Scott movies are overrated.

    ReplyDelete