Robin Hood
 

Not sure what movie some of our so called critics have been watching, especially the clueless geeks like Harry Knowles and Devin Faraci, but this is one of the best times i've had in the cinema this year. The criticisms of it being dull, wordy and pointless are quite staggering.

Right from the off it's a rollicking old school adventure yarn. Full of great performances, although King John is almost bordering on panto, and an endless supply of great supporting characters.

Crowe is watchable as ever although occasionally he appears to attempt a random accent which pulls you from the film a little. He should have just done it in his own accent - no one would really care.

Cate Blanchett is also surprisingly effective and I warmed to her immediately which I usually don't.

Ridley Scott keeps the whole thing rattling along a fair old clip and handles the many action sequences with typical skill and aplomb. In fact, I was enjoying it all so much that by the ending, when the Sheriff of Nottingham asks for a nail, I was grinning like a big kid and would happily have sat for another two hours to watch the 'traditional' Robin Hood story play out.

If I have to criticise, which it seems we must these days, it often feels like bits of other movies. Kingdom of heaven, Braveheart, Saving Private Ryan, Lord of the Rings and Gladiator all spring to mind on several occasions (most of them at the same time towards the end) but it's a minor complaint.

From start to finish, I had a great time. A solid well made bit of escapist fun.

After reading the TF review by Andy Lowe, who absolutely slated this film I nearly didn't bother but I am glad I took no notice of this bloke who was obviously having a bad day when he went to review it.

Nowhere near as good as Ridley's previous films like Gladiator and Kingdom of heaven but as Fortunes Fool states its a rollicking old school adventure yarn. Crowe is always watchable and yet again as FF states, why didn't they just stick to their normal accents? Mark Strong was underused as Godfrey but very good nevertheless. King John had a bit of panto about him but I thought he was one of the best actors in the film, he totally made me dislike him. Good action and worth a watch. I thought the end credits were done really well too.

Yeah, the end credits are very cool. Great score too.

I've heard so many wildly varying reviews on this one, I'm rather looking forward to seeing it.

Robin Wood[en]
 

I went in with negativity ringing in my ears but refused to let it dampen my expectations for another Ridley Scott epic. C'mon, Kingdom of Heaven was meant to be a duffer and that has, over time, become a classic.
I absolutely LOVED.......the last 10 minutes. Everything else was a badly paced bore of misplaced accents and a narrative structure that indicated a lack of direction. Dont forget that this originally started as a Sheriff of Notts film in which Rusty Phone Slap would play both hero and villian, which was sensibly ditched, and on the evidence of this, replaced with a make-it-up-as-you-go-along origin story a la Batman Begins.
The strong points were the portrayal of King John (only second to the Lion in Disney's Robin Hood) and the tantilising ending.
2 stars

*spoiler*
 

Scott and Crowe on cruise control. This wasn't as bad as a two star film, but it was a let down as far as Scott is concerned. He's done better, and really was just churning out the old (just as Andy Lowe suggested) cliches. There were some truly laugh out loud moments. Crowe yelling 'Nooooooooo!' when he sees Marion about to be impaled, and Crowe rising out of the ocean, sea water droplets falling from his god-like head in slow-mo. Oh, Ridders, what were you thinking?

Me too, when the action got cranked up. I quite enjoyed it, mainly due to it not being the usual old story trotted out. The accents seemed to be all over the place which kept pulling me out of it. Really enjoyed Matthew McF in his small but perfectly formed role.

I walked out. Unbearably tedious.

well you can do that, because you are Mr Cineworld Unlimited card guy. So it's not as much of a statement as someone who has paid for the film on a normal ticket if you catch my drift.
You did not miss anything. The last act of the film is where my eyes really started to glaze. Seen that type of ending before and even before that..Robin seemed to go from place to place in a kind of daze. :confused:

That was the first film I've ever walked out of. The problem was that even bad films create some interest, a level of 'oh I have to see if it can get any worse' but this just.... continued. I sat through 2 hours and it still felt like the opening, and I must've fallen asleep at some point because tonally it was all over the place and many things just plain did not make sense.

When did Robin suddenly become a great public speaker? As far as I noticed he spent nigh on two hours mumbling quietly and generally being incredibly boring, then all of a sudden he's inspiring every man in the land. That, along with the declaration of love to Marion, are what did it for me. Got up, hands in the air, said 'Done' and walked out. Crushingly boring, not a single thing I enjoyed about it. I don't have nay desire to see how it ended, I'd rather save that corner of my brain for storing valuable information like remembering not to lean on the radiator.