Robin Hood [Blu-ray]

I had been following this films release for a long time, and remember really wanting to see it when it first came out. I can't explain what a huge Robin Hood fan that I was as a kid. I had the all green motif in my room until I was about 8. I remember reading the Pyle version of the story, well before I was old enough to do so, but as the film approached release, due mostly to bad press, and a really bad trailer that came out right before release (note that trailers are not usually made by the actual film makers, so why people base their expectations on them, to include myself is beyond me.) it was being marketed to a historically accurate version of Robin Hood. How it could actually have happened, which is just another way of saying we b sed and speculated, kinda like that horrible clive owen version of king arthur. Something in the vain of glaidiator but with robin hood, roll eyes. This film is not that. I missed the initial release and ended up seeing it for free in a second run theater, and I have to say that I was mesmorized. It was really good. Not like best movie of the year good, but thoroughly entertaining, and it took some liberties that I was not expecting. A lot of people say, oh great a sequel, some say there can't be a sequel of robin hood, because its an idea, a folklore, kind of like batman. Different directors have focused on different parts of the mythology, because there are so many different sources to choose from. I always thought that the Pyle version was the original book, but have subsequently found there are like at least 10 very different versions ranging from shakespeare, to Dumas, to Tolken C.S. Lewis Oxford alum, so with that in mind, this is its own telling. In most original versions, Robin does his thing, as a commoner, becomes an outlaw to be pardoned by the king, go off to fight in the crusades, and come back to sherwood, maybe fight a last battle, and then die after defeating sherriff of nottingham. This film starts with robin as a soldier, who comes back after the war, trying to find the peace that has eluded him in life. Will and Little John are other Veterans, and the saying that no one wants peace like a soldier holds true. They fight for the people who couldn't go fight, and who can't stand up to the government. There are various allusions to the current conflicts and low approvals of current policies. While the story of robin may not be historically accurate, the way it is told is. All the customs and set pieces are the most accurate representation of the time yet put on film, and it does stem from Ridly Scott's maticulous eye for historical detail. This does lend itself to be a film for the whole family, and roots Robin's uprising on modern ideals and rebels agains English rule and oppression. There is no King left to pardon robin in this. The film's story doesn't travel as far as I would have liked, but it it definately a prequel, and since he ultimately must fail in liberating england, I think the subsequent sequels will be most interesting as robin's ideals, and his men's loyalties to them are questioned under the rule of king John. I hope that more people get into this film, because I really thing that with writer Brian Hedgeland of LA Confidential and Mystic River Penning this series, the next film could be ever bit as good as the dark knight, though I'm afraid with the poor boxoffice it might never be.

Can a Roman Gladiator become an English archer? Yes!Can the well-known, oft-told Robin Hood story be massively reimagined and still be true to the tale? Surprisingly, yes it can.There is a lot of wit in this version—plus fine acting, canny directing, and a very fresh and imaginative screenplay.**May contain spoilers**Russell Crowe is an archer in King Richard's army, returning from a Crusade. Suddenly the King is dead and Fate offers Crowe and friends a windfall. They find a get-out-of-France-free card and return to England. Small catch: they must deliver the news of Richard's death to London, where people may know that Crowe is not who he pretends to be. And Crowe, as Robin Longstride, promises to deliver news of the death of Robin of Locksley to Locksley's father, together with the family sword.Then there's the devious development where the elder Locksley, Max von Sydow, asks Crowe to pretend to be his son. The son has been away on the Crusade so long that no one can tell the difference. And that makes Crowe suddenly the husband of Cate Blanchett, who's having none of this. But she cannot inherit the property when the elder Locksley dies. Only a man can inherit under the laws of the day. It’s an itchy, tempestuous courtship with no guarantees.All that and some other good bits--assassination plots, impending French invasion by sea, the wily beekeeper known as Friar Tuck, and that moldy old Sheriff--would make a nice variation of the Robin Hood story. But screenwriter Brian Helgeland and director Ridley Scott add a bit of genius. They connect some past history to a developing story that leads to the Magna Carta, with Robin of Locksley a primal element in the English winds of political change. It's a Forrest Gump twist.I grew up with Errol Flynn's Robin Hood as a favorite movie. I enjoyed Kevin Costner as an aw-shucks American Robin Hood in the 1991 version, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. (The witchcraft angle was an odd note, but then Morgan Freeman added some sparkle. The arrow camera effects were very cool.)Given that, I was skeptical of this new version. Ultimately, Helgeland and Scott changed the classic story a lot, and they didn't change anything. Crazy, but true. It works.This 3-disc version has good behind-the-scenes commentary that illuminates director Scott's goals for Robin Hood. Nice bonus.I hope you find this 2010 version of Robin Hood to be as much fun as I did. And, that you find this review helpful in some way.1938: The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)1991: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves [Double Sided]