It's the sort of action-packed, swash-buckling, sword-fighting, down-and-dirty medieval film I love. There was a lot of sweat (you could almost smell everyone), a lot of grime, muddy streets, and a cool shot up the Thames of twelfth century London. Those were the things I gleefully noticed. What struck me later was the generally joyless characters that strolled through. Not as Merry, these men.
There is very little of the traditional "Robin Hood" one might wish to see in this movie. I know, I know. It's a pre-quel of all that robbing from the rich and giving to the poor stuff, Where He Came From and all that. But it still had promise (with a little Martin Guerre thrown in) and some other good bits that I enjoyed.
Mostly the fighting. Lots and lots of fighting. Grr!
One of the screenwriters, Brian Helgeland, gave us as writer and director A Knight's Tale staring a sparkling Heath Ledger. And I liked A Knight's Tale, the story anyway, even though I hated the modernized costumes, music, and ethnic casting of the lady love. But the movie itself grew on me with all the great jousting and manly mannishness.
Brian Helgeland and Robin Hood director Ridley Scott can write and direct my Crispin Guest movie anytime they wish. Because what they got right was what matters most to me, and that is the feel and sense of the time period. You can definitely walk those streets and feel the texture of the clothing and what it meant to be an honorable man despite the odds.
Russel Crowe was the war weary Robin Longstride, an archer in Richard Lionheart's crusader army. Richard, of course, didn't give a damn about England and maybe spent six months there in his entire life. Still, it's nice to be king, isn't it, and England was great even if (in Richard's eyes) he couldn't be King of France.
Prince John quickly becomes King John in this tale (and at last! We get to see Eleanor of Acquitaine!) Some might say that King John is portrayed over the top, but truly, he was a really bad king and made a lot of very poor choices. Greedy choices. So you have at least here a decent portrayal.
However, what I wanted, and I'm sure many people did, is the "real" Robin Hood story, only grittier. I guess I mean the legend. And maybe what I really want is a mini series so we can get all that and the Robin and Marion ending as well. We wanted the meeting of Robin and Little John over the brook and fighting with quarter staffs. We wanted the meeting up with Friar Tuck (and it was the marvelous Mark Addy playing that role in this one. He's my Gilbert the tavern keeper in the Crispin novels, so casting directors take note). We wanted to see his meeting and romancing Maid Marion, fighting the bad guys, hanging out with the Merry Men, going to the archery tournament--all that stuff that made Errol Flynn's career (and let me tell you, The Adventures of Robin Hood played a BIG role in my ideas of swash-buckling adventure as I grew up that seem to creep into my stories).
But, as I said, it was still an all right movie if you just didn't think of the main characters as Robin Hood et al. I wonder if they plan on a sequel.
By the way, don't leave at the end. The credits are pretty cool. They use a digital painterly swash of the images with some of the main credits and it's great to watch.
Jeri Westerson is the author of the highly regarded and way fun Crispin Guest medieval noir mysteries, Veil of Lies
and Serpent in the Thorns
. Her blog, Getting Medieval, is the source of this review. Thanks for permission to reprint, Jeri!Have your say! We want to hear all opinions. Send us your review or point us to a published review we may reprint. Send to hawthorne@nanhawthorne.com .
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