Robin Hood
Director: Ridley Scott
Year Released: 2010
Rating: 1.5
Since when did the story of Robin Hood play out like Braveheart? Sluggish 'prequel' to his whole 'steal from the rich, give to the poor' days has Mr. Hood (Russell Crowe) quibbling with arrogant King John (Oscar Isaac), battling with a half-French/half-English menace (Mark Strong) and meeting Maid Marion (Cate Blanchett). The 'script' by Brian Helgeland is a huge chunk of the problem here: it's bloated, it does little to develop the characters beyond cartoonish dimensions and it resorts to Gladiator-type battles to provide any kind of tension. Though it's been a while since I saw the Kevin Costner Robin Hood, I do recall that that movie at least worked on the romantic angle (and had plenty of humor) - this never gets around to forming any bond between Robin and Marion. Neither Costner nor Crowe are Errol Flynn, either ... for better or worse.
