• fax: 1-866-743-3439
  • toll-free: 1-877-366-7327

Blog by Don Kennedy

<< back to article list

Robin Hood

Robin Hood is a prequel to the altruistic woodsman that we’re familiar with thanks to the gelling of traditional ballads into the character portrayed by Walter Scott in the 19th century novel Ivanhoe. Here Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) is a crusader with King Richard The Lionheart (Danny Huston) returning to England from the Holy Land via France and pillaging along the way to pay for that 12th century version of the War on Terror. Richard’s ridiculous demise causes Robin to return home under the assumed name of Sir Robert Loxley along with a merry ban of reprobate crusader buddies that included Little John (Kevin Durand) and Will Scarlet (Scott Grimes). On a mission of honour they proceed to Nottingham where the aged and blind senior Loxley (Max von Sydow) takes Robin in as his son to ensure that his daughter in law Marion Loxley (Cate Blanchett) can rightfully inherit the Loxley land. Meantime the new King John (Oscar Isaac, who gets all the best lines) is bent on raising taxes with the aid of Godfrey (Mark Strong) of no fixed rank or historical credence. Godfrey as it turns out is working as a double agent for France and trying to weaken Britain by dividing her from within. In a real stretch, when Friar Tuck (Mark Addy) joins the rest of Robin’s crew they become “brethren of the hood” (they all wear hoods as disguises) in revolt against the new oppressive tax scheme. Most of this sounds kind of intriguing until you factor in copious historical inconsistencies (King Phillips landing craft made his assault look like the Normandy invasion in reverse) not to mention a complete disregard for the laws of physics (arrows just don’t go that far!). And then there’s the silliness of Maid Marion as a kick ass Medieval ninja, not to mention the suggestion that it was Robins father who authored the Magna Carta. Talk about robbing from the rich (Ivanhoe) to give to the poor (the scriptwriters of this bloated misstep). Here the usually infallible director Ridley Scott is definitely no Walter Scott.

Archives