Robin Hood 2018 (Part 2 of 2)

Robin Hood:  "If I stand here long enough, someone will mistake me for Batman or Green Arrow.  Right? "

That’s not to say everything about the movie is terrible.  Maid Marian isn’t the woman in distress trope.  She is very active in the rebellion.  However, they later turn her into a lady in distress trope.  Friar Tuck is a different take from the other Tucks.  He behaves like a is backstabbing and working dude for the bad guys, but he is more of spy and undercover rebel.  I also enjoyed the strange industry appearance of Nottingham.  It gives the movie a completely different setting than the other Robin Hood movies.  

This movie wants to be Nolan’s Batman Begins so bad that it hurts.   “Let’s surround the cool archery scenes with some type of story,” Some producer probably said.  Some else replied, “Let’s just paste the Batman Begins script into the movie.”   

The dynamic between John and Robin is that of Bruce Wayne and Alford/Roz al Ghul.  It is supposed to be a teacher/student dynamic, but the movie doesn’t have time for that.  The movie switches to horse riding action scenes straight out of videogames. 

The dynamic between Robin of Loxley and his Hood persona is clearly taken from the Batman Begins rule book.  I could not but be reminded of a better movie than focusing in on this new Robin Hood take.  I just can’t see how you mix the legend of Robin Hood with the aesthetics of superheroes such as Batman.  And, Arrow on the CW has a better grasp on the Batman mythos than this movie.   

Unless it is a TV show on Starz or Showtime, I really can't see the Robin Hood series working on the big screen again.  Plus, we already had an origin story for Robin Hood a few years ago with Russell Crowe.  I think a gritty TV show with fresh stories week to week would work for Robin Hood.  Here, this movie wants to be the next Nolan Batman movie.  It is kind of sad watching this movie fall all over itself.   

The other influence or swipe is from the last Excalibur movie.  Excalibur: Legend of the Sword have a lot of similarities with this movie. Like Excalibur, the movie attempts to really hard to give us a “new and different” take on the legend. Fast edits and videogame action take place in both movies. What if we give Robin Hood or Excalibur becomes an energy drink and film it? Despite the extreme lore, the story is weak. 

The CGI and effects aren’t bad but just a bit overdone given the setting.  It should be noted that the later seasons of GOT had better effects though.  In some ways, the movie also feels retro.  It stems from the way it is shot.  The entire thing seems to be a byproduct (afterbirth) of the early 2000s.   

Just like Batman Begins, this movie believes it will have a sequel.  Given the blandness of the characters and the script, I am surprised they believed they would get another chance to make their version of The Dark Knight (Robin Hood II:  The Dark Hood).  They set up Will Scarlett as the next Sheif and he has a personal stake in finding and killing the Hood.  Way to set up your disfigured Joker-type, movie.   

With the movie trying so hard to be other things, it doesn’t have its own identity.  It is supposed to be the untold story of Robin Hood but is clearly aimed at the neck-beards that want something they can identify with but not anything new or fresh.  There are some interesting things to see such as the outfit of RB or that they kept the Moor character.  There is not enough to give this a passing grade because it is frankly too boring.  After the lukewarm response from the Crowe version, did we need another Robin Hood movie?  After the failure of the newer Excalibur movie, this movie seems like a repeat of that mistake.  The movie overly terrible, but more bland or boring.  This is just a lazy movie.   

Grade: D+ 

 Instead of a shitty Byran Adams Ballard, let's do a Limp Bizkit cover, yo.

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 Ben Mendelsohn on the set kept talking about getting the Dearth Star complete not realizing he was doing a Robin Hood movie instead.  Like the Flop House mentioned in their review, they just dressed him just like his character from Rogue One.  Damn it., you making me want to watch that movie instead.  

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 Too much...like Batman Begins. 

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Do you know how I got these scars?  They wanted me to be the Joker of Robin Hood.