Robin Hood Begins

If you are expecting a swashbuckling Errol Flynn, a debonaire Douglas Fairbanks, an assortment of singing animals from around the globe, or a Bryan Adams ballad you are shit out of luck. However, what Ridley Scott offers the audience in his 2010 installment of Robin Hood is (overall) enjoyable.

The movie begins on an opaque day, with arrows flying towards a French castle during the Third Crusade, as England is reeling from their devastating losses of life. Well, the movie actually begins with medieval "Tusken Raiders" ambushing the Lady Marion (Cate Blanchett)and her hometown of Nottingham in the dead of the night. Nevertheless, what is not known at this point in the movie is that Robin Longstride, played very Irishly by Ridley Scott's wonderboy Russell Crowe, has yet to become (who English folklore commonly refer to as)Robin Hood. This film is what is commonly referred to as a prequel.

Screenwriter, Bryan Helgeland has intertwined many (somewhat) confusing story lines into the movie with a copious amount of characters; it is obviously presumed that the audience should know in advance a majority of them. However, the characters are brilliantly cast starting with Robin's (soon to be) Merry Men; Little John, played by Canadian cyborg Kevin Durand; Will Scarlet, played by Scott Grimes; and Allan A'Dayle, played by Great Big Sea's frontman Alan Doyle (undoubtedly got the role due to his ability to play the mandolin and being rock buds with Mr. Crowe). Comical moments are contributed by The Merry Men and Friar Tuck (Mark Addy)who provides humorous lines like "if I were not a Friar, I would surely be the town drunkard". The main antagonist is a spiteful man named Godfrey...Godfrey? Yes Godfrey, not the Sheriff of Nottingham or even King John. Godfrey, played by Mark Strong, is King John's henchman with alterior motives.

During the film, Scott wonderfully juxtaposes the picturesque Nottingham forest shots to the the tension felt by the citizens of England who believe they are being fleeced by the newly appointed King John. In fact, up until the final fight scene (which I will get into), Scott has constructed a nearly perfectly fluent film. Occasionally the score, done by German composer Marc Streitenfeld (Scott's new Hans Zimmer), seems a little out of context; however, we do get to hear the obligatory mezzo-soprano wailing in the background that we are used to in this genre of movie.

The film took a turn for the worse after a crowd pleasing inspirational speech (by Robin) that would even make (the Scottish) William Wallace proud. I do not know whether Scott felt obliged to throw in a final fight scene to please his producers or whether he just wanted to get his rocks off but the 15 minute battle on the south of England was one of the most unnecessary, uninspired, and anti-climactic fight scenes I have seen in recent memory. When the supposed leader of the English army first identifies the armada of French approaching on the English Channel he remarks, "that's a lot of French". Well, it certainly was, it certainly was.

6/10 (see it, but if you have to take a pee break wait for the fight scene...I wish I had)

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