Movie Review: Robin Hood

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ROBIN HOOD: MY REVIEW

*NOTE: Contains spoilers!!!*




Plot summary: In the late 12th century, King Richard the Lionhearted is on his way home to England from the Middle East, where he was on crusade. With him is a large army of stout Englishmen, among whom is Robin Longstride -- a brave, down-to-earth yeoman. During a battle, King Richard is killed, and his right-hand man, Robert Loxley, sets out with some knights to return Richard's crown to his Queen mother. Robin Longstride also leaves the scene of the battle, along with some friends of his, including Alan a'Dale, Little John, and Will Scarlet. Taking a different route from that of Loxley, they are surprised to come upon Loxley and his knights later and find them ambushed by Sir Godfrey, a close friend of King Richard's younger brother John and secretly an agent of France. Sir Godfrey was on a mission from the King of France to murder King Richard; but finding the King already dead, he attempts to take Richard's crown. Robin and his crew, however, drive Godfrey's ambush party away. They return to the scene of the ambush, and Robin finds Robert Loxley -- not dead, but obviously dying. Loxley gives Robin his sword, asking Robin to take it to Loxley's father. Robin is struck by the words on the sword:

Rise and rise again
Until lambs become lions

Robin, now assuming Robert Loxley's identity, sets out for London Town to bring the crown home to the royal family -- accompanied, of course, by Little John, Will, and Alan (who all pretend to be knights). He witnesses Prince John crowned king, and witnesses also King John's selfishness. (John was about to give a ring as a reward to Robin; but remembering that Robert Loxley's father owed a petty debt to the crown, he told Robin, a.k.a. Robert Loxley, that the ring "would be a start" and kept it.)

Afterwards, Robin sets out for Nottingham to fulfill Robert Loxley's dying wish and return his sword to Loxley's father. Once there, he meets Robert Loxley's widow, Marion, and Loxley's blind father, Walter Loxley. Walter urges Robin to remain in Nottingham, keeping up the assumed identity of Robert Loxley, so the Loxleys' land can be protected from the Crown. (If the Crown found out that Robert Loxley had died, the land would be taken away from the Lady Marion.) Robin agrees, although the situation is rather dangerous for him; for Sir Godfrey knows of his deception and could come find him anytime. While he is there, he and Marion find themselves falling in love (although at first she gives him the cold shoulder); and Walter tells Robin about Robin's father -- whom Robin never knew. Walter says that Robin's father died trying to unify the nobles and the king of England.

Meanwhile, Sir Godfrey is conspiring against King John, sowing seeds of hatred among the people by destroying their lands in the name of King John. At the same time, he is arranging for the King of France to invade England, just when its unity is weakest -- for all the English nobles, believing John to be the source of their destroyed lands, are rising up against him. Robin goes to a meeting of the nobles and the king in an attempt to re-unify them. He succeeds, and the king and the nobles all assemble their armies and begin to ride to the coast of England, where the French armies are expected to land. On the way there, Robin hears of trouble in Nottingham, and rides to the rescue. Sir Godfrey, it turns out, had attacked Nottingham while Robin was gone, and was in the process of destroying the land and killing half the people when Robin arrived with his army. Sir Godfrey flees to the coast of England. He is there when the French armies arrive; but unbeknownst to Godfrey, the armies of England are also on their way to the coast. In a stunning battle, the armies of England wipe out the armies of France, and Godfrey is killed. King John, hoping the people would give him praise because he led one charge on the battlefield, is upset when Robin Longstride is hailed with cheers and praises because of his bravery in battle. Accordingly, King John labels him an outlaw for pretending to be Robert Loxley (and for some invented crimes); and Robin is forced to flee to the woods (with Lady Marion of course), where he and his men become known as men "of the Hood".

My thoughts: It was about as good as I expected it to be....And let's say I wasn't really expecting that much.
Bad points: Number one on my list of bad points were the immoral references/scenes. There was WAY more than I expected there would be...and way more than I thought should have been in there/was necessary. If it were my choice, I would say have no sex-related scenes at all. There were two, but there were some other immoral jokes made or immoral scenes implied. (One good thing, though: none of the sex/sex-related scenes were between Robin and Marion. Both were very decent people.) I would have enjoyed the movie much, much more if none of that stuff had been in there.
Also what I didn't like was that, in the final battle, Lady Marion came to war in armor. Repeat: Lady Marion came to do battle, all rigged-out in fancy armor. I thought that was totally unnecessary, illogical, ridiculous, inaccurate, and totally stupid. I didn't mind when she occasionally wielded a sword (when she was defending Nottingham and stuff like that)...but to actually come to a huge battle in armor was over the top. Made me mad.
I also didn't like Little John. Wasn't Little John named "Little" John because he was something of a gentle giant? At least, in all the stories I've heard about Robin Hood, Little John always seemed to be such a sweet guy. Not so in this movie. He was loud, obnoxious, vulgar, and a brute. He had his moments where he was genuine -- he could be funny -- but all in all he was just plain obnoxious.
I didn't like King Richard. He annoyed me. But I've heard mixed opinions on King Richard -- sometimes he sounds like a real nice guy, other times he sounds like a jerk. In this movie he was something of a jerk.
I also felt that some of the beginning of the movie could have been cut in a way that made the story a little bit clearer. As it was, I was kind of confused.
I love Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett, but I felt there were a little bit too old for these roles. However, I didn't notice it too much because, as I said, I love both those people. :)
I also didn't like Prince John. But that goes without saying. ;)

Good points: Number one, the acting. It was superb. Russell Crowe is one of my FAVORITE actors, and he was awesome in this movie. Cate Blanchett was also amazing, Max von Sydow (Walter Loxley) was good, Mark Strong (Sir Godfrey) as usual, played a really horrible bad guy (horrible in the sense that the actor did such a good job the character was horrible). I also liked the guy who played Will Scarlet; and the guy who played Friar Tuck. They were good.
I loved the cinematography, especially the battle scenes. It's a different sort of style -- rather fast, but I imagine that's what a real battle would be like. Plus, the arrows felt so realistic -- seemed like they would jump out of the screen at you (no, it wasn't in 3D), and made you glad you weren't in the battle.
I loved the music. It was gorgeous, soaring and beautiful and sweeping. I really want the soundtrack now. ;)
I loved the respect Robin showed for Marion. The trailer for this movie made me afraid that there would be some sex-related scenes between the two, but as I said before, there were none. He treats her with a playful respect that is just really sweet.
I liked the flashbacks to Robin's childhood, which the words "Rise and rise again/Until lambs become lions" spurs in Robin's memory. The flashbacks were mainly Robin as a little boy first putting his handprint with his dad on a wet stone (which also has the words "Rise and rise again" etc.), then watching his dad get killed. There were sad and poignant (and the boy who played little Robin was adorable!).
I also loved the horses in this movie. Call me weird, but the horses were just so GORGEOUS!! I loved them. ;D

Rating (out of 5 stars):
Acting: *****
Morality: **
Cinematography: *****
Music: *****
Characters: ****
Other (the rest of the movie): ***
Overall rating: ***

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Pax!
-Limwen