Robin Hood (2010)

Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood is an attempt to tell a significantly different version of events and is much darker and more serious-minded than anything we have seen in the past.

Like Casino Royale or the last Star Trek adventure this Robin Hood is all about going back to ground zero and rebuilding a legend. The thrust of the film is the events leading up to Robin being branded as an outlaw and what inspired his pursuit of justice for all.

The film could easily be called “Robin Hood: Origins” as it tells the story of Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) before he became Robin Hood. At the start of this movie Robin is an archer with King Richard the Lion Hearted (Danny Huston). One of the king’s right hand men is the knight Robert Loxley (Douglas Hodge). When the King and Loxley are killed Robin takes Loxley’s name and heads back to England.

There he finds England in turmoil as Prince John (Oscar Isaac) takes the throne. John’s mother Eleanor (Eileen Atkins) tries to reason with her son to take the heavy tax load off the people of England, but he decides to make the burden even more severe. This leads to internal conflict at the same time the French are planning to invade England. All of this strife leads to amazing battle sequences. Meanwhile Robin is trying to help out Loxley’s father (Max Von Sydow) and his widow Marion (Cate Blanchett). The new Friar (Mark Addy) at Nottingham where Marion lives is also drawn into helping out, as are Robin’s buddies Allan A’Dayle (Alan Doyle), Will Scarlett (Scott Grimes) and Little John (Kevin Durand).