Robin Hood review by Bobby Blakey
Over the years there have been a wide variety of takes on the iconic character Robin Hood in both TV and feature film. Now the famed archer has returned to the big screen once again with the new feature aptly titled Robin Hood starring Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelsohn, Eve Hewson, Tim Minchin, and Jamie Dornan, but does it bring anything new to the legend or will it miss the target altogether?
Robin Hood follows Robin of Loxley, a war-hardened Crusader and his Moorish commander who mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown in a thrilling action-adventure packed with gritty battlefield exploits, mind-blowing fight choreography, and a timeless romance. The trailers for this latest Robin Hood outing didn’t do a whole lot to instill confidence to its direction, but for me the film worked way better than I had expected. It’s pretty hard taking these iconic characters and trying to do something new with them as there are already expectations from fan. Here they did do something a bit different but stuck to the heart of the character overall and delivered a film that I enjoyed.
I have been a fan of Egerton ever since his role in Kingsman, but even more so in Eddie the Eagle. He is good here and all in, but there are moments where he feels too young for the role or at least looks like he is. At the same time he works overall and brings his own charm to the character that I thought worked fine. My real favorite here was Jamie Foxx who stole the show. He brought a variety of emotions to the role and you believe in his cause and reasoning in every way. His John serves as a mentor to Robin and it works great complete with some great training montages and explanations on how to shoot the arrows so fast. The rest of the cast are decent as well rounding out the legendary cast of characters from the story.
The initial narration and opening leading into the meat of it all was a bit klunky and had me worried for a second, but thankfully that is a pretty quick sequence. Some of the biggest issues for me come from the story itself with elements feeling smaller than it really should have. The reasoning behind all of the turmoil felt cliché and predictable, but the biggest issue came with the love triangle of Hood, Marian and Will that fell flat. Part of it felt rushed and other elements felt to easily resolved. The behaviors of the characters in the varying situations often do something completely opposite to what was set up previously forcing a new direction that just didn’t work for me.
In the end this is far from the perfect Robin Hood film, but one that offered up plenty of action, fun, and elements of the legend to make it worth checking out. It’s sad it didn’t do well since it clearly was setting up for more adventures, but thankfully it was done in a way that still feels complete.
This new release not only includes the film but bonus content including outtakes, deleted scenes, and a 7-part documentary featurette of bringing this film to life. Join the fight to steal from the rich and give to the poor when Robin Hood hits Digital on February 5th and then on 4K Ultra, Blu-ray and DVD on February 19th from Lionsgate Home Entertainment.