Robin Hood

Starring: Taron Edgerton, Jamie Foxx, Eve Hewson, Ben Mendelsohn, Jamie Dornan

Director: Otto Bathurst

Shortly after meeting and falling in love with Marian (Eve Hewson), Robin of Loxley (Taron Edgerton) is drafted into fighting in the Crusades by the Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn). Four years pass and Robin returns home to find he has been declared dead and Marian has moved on with Will (Jamie Dornan). With the help of John (Jamie Foxx), who owes Robin a life debt, Robin becomes “The Hood” and sets out to gain vengeance against the Sheriff and win back Marion. Along the way he discovers the Sheriff is up to something sinister. The movie doesn’t need to exist, however, it could have been watchable had it made any effort to be fun. It takes itself way too seriously, focusing on making the legend of Robin Hood and tries way too hard to be a modern day allegory, with its crooked government plot and even its costuming at some points. The score by Joseph Trapanese sounds a lot like The Dark Knight and that’s not the only aspect of that film this one attempts to mimic to unfortunate effect. The acting is fine for the most part, but Ben Mendelsohn seems to be the only one who knew what type of movie he was in. I quite enjoyed him. Eve Hewson comes off the worst, not really given much to do except wear low cut clothing and smile at Robin Hood. I haven’t seen her in anything else but I have a feeling the script did her no favors. A film that starts with voiceover telling you to “forget what you know of history” tends to not be strong in the script department. It’s never clear who the voiceover is, but it’s not even Robin Hood. And the less said about Jamie Dornan the better, but it’s actually not for his acting ability. Watching this, I actually gained some more appreciation for last year’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. While not amazing, that film at least had a strong visual style and was fun. While Robin Hood had plenty of action, it became boring, often employing slo-mo to no effect other than to be cool and gritty. I don’t mind watching bad movies. They can be a lot of fun when they are watchable. This joins Venom as one of the bad movies that came out this year that should have been more fun than they actually were. D