Robin Hood (2018)

Does anyone remember the Simpson's episode where Homer gets the chance to design a car? Its like every other car, wheels, engine. Dashboard. But it turns out to be a ghastly mess. Well, imagine if he was asked to produce a film. No point going on about its faults as they are numerous. The biggest scandal is that people can throw millions at a film and no one says hang on, this is rubbish. I can't believe anyone would give it over 5.

Fmovies: It's not funny, it's not witty, just another rehash of a film done over and over with updated special effects (although some moments are questionable). Don't waste your time unless you want to have your ticket money stolen from you!

Quite possibly the greatest rendition of the classic "Robin Hood" story is the 1938 "Adventures of Robin Hood," starring Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland. The film begins with an initiative, and uses its protagonists to advance the plot methodically. Perhaps most importantly lies the film's self awareness; its delight in relishing a sense of refreshing fun and delight. The classic tale of Robin Hood has always been one best told briskly and with a sense of humor.

If only this film had followed the 1938 template. It starts out with an obvious purpose; to retell the Robin Hood legend in a modern form. This is reinforced through the bizzare steampunk costuming and one out of place scene in which Marion (played by the adequate, but not particularly noticeable Eve Hewson) wears a bedazzaled mermaid gown. Also, the film establishes the romance between Marion and Robin Hood as a key element, and presents her as, essentially, Robin's only motivation for almost the whole of the film. This is not inherently a bad decision, but the movie fails to present their relationship in a compelling or interesting way. There is no reason, no foundation, for us to feel invested in Robin's motivation, and thereby, his origin story.

The effects are borderline amateur. This film does right by incorporating a lot of detailed set pieces, that create a believable environment. On the occassion that green screen is used, however, it reminds you of a 2000's era Star Wars prequel. While the choreography regarding Taron Egerton's Robin Hood and Jamie Foxx's Little John is somewhat competent, the battle sequences are shot nonsensically with no direction or focus.

One thing this film struggles immensely with is character building. As mentioned above, there is no depth to the romance between Robin Hood and Marion. Little John and Robin Hood, despite all the scenes they have together, have no real conversation. I felt that Little John was the only character I even slightly felt for, because he was the only person with a semblance of a backstory.

It was incredibly stupid, convuluted, and cheap. I'm not saying there weren't compelling elements, but ultimately, those were bogged down by the film's idiocy.

2/10

20% (Rotten)

D

Robin Hood fmovies. Terrible terrible story, overloaded with 'politically correct' clichés. The Trump-like speech. The 'strong empowered woman' but still with lots of cleavage. A 'representative' mix of black and white actors... in medieval England?? School play storylines are way better. Apart from that, the action scenes were not half bad. Although just as non-sensical as the story :)

There are loads of Robin hood series and movies. This is the nr 1 for being the worst. When historical movies got political correct elements I always get a little bit cynical. I hoped that a great actor like Jamie fox could take that feeling away. This movie was really really bad. It 's Not only the political correctness the rest of the movie is even worse.

Reminds me of last year's re-imagining of King Arthur except a heist film this is not. Robin Hood gets his umpteenth retelling yet the film insists it's telling a new version of the story while also basically covering all you already know about the man himself. Steal from the rich, give to the poor; it's not complicated, and open to a million different interpretations of that core loop, yet here we are.

For a movie to tease some promising themes at the start (if you ignore the awful opening bit of narrative catch-up that mismatches the film's tone with twee voice over and the weakest relationship setup imaginable) only to glance over them for flat characters is a little mean, because it makes you think it might not be half bad for at least a half an hour. It could have opened with the first major action sequence, which may be the best part of the film, as it is a far cry from where the action goes from there. Robin, of course, is a man of great character, even before his transformation into a thief proper. Where the film immediately goes wrong is establishing a context to the conflict he is drafted into fighting, which clearly includes rampant racism, imperialism, and intolerance of ideology. Like I said, promising themes at first, but Ben Mendelsohn as the Sheriff of Nottingham is not a person you'll come to understand. He could hardly get more cartoonish, and during his growly monologues I wondered if this movie was actually intended for children.

I think it is and it isn't as it's suitably violent but without blood which in some instances appears to have been intended. Robin himself racks up quite the body count in his efforts to steal from the absurdly rich Sheriff, dragging presumably innocent lives into his own personal vendetta (which is fueled by Jamie Foxx, who goes back and forth between playing Jamie Foxx and Jamie Foxx's vague interpretation of an "Arab", quotes included). But because he gets results, the community rallies around him. Off screen, mostly, so that when it comes time to rally the town against the Sheriff (though one wonders why they never left if they were forced to give everything they owe to the war) they all get behind him.

There is a lot of conflicting or lazy character choices in the film, too many to get into great detail, but they keep resetting any feelings you may develop naturally when a movie is--how you say--consistent. On top of that, accents are a complete afterthought. The lead actress, an Irish actor, can't even keep an accent in her native tongue for more than a sentence every other scene she's in. The rest of the time she's speaking plain American English like everyone's afraid to remind her of her character's betrothal to another Irishman, Jamie Dornan. Oh yeah, he's in this, and his character's arc is, in order: nonexistent, then confusing and script-serving, then literally Two-Face from The Dark Knight in a categorically stupid franchise setup that promises to tell the exact same story again next time.

Any sort of personality or wit the film has is lost in the incompetent action scenes that are a complete joke. Its costuming is interesting, but feels weird and ultimately ephemeral. At times it was like a cross between Game Of Thrones and The Matrix. I also thought the film was going to end after a particularly large set piece (which includes a horse-drawn cart being driven through a wall) because the inane plotting felt sweetly dumb enough to be mercifully short, but it kept slogging