Film File - Robin Hood

In the latest version of the enduring tale of Sherwood Forest's greatest hero, director Ridley Scott and scriptwriter Brian Helgeland introduce archer Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) as an infantryman in the ranks of King Richard's army as it returns from the Third Crusade to the Holy Land. Richard, in a bid to reclaim monies paid to the French king who held him hostage as he returned from his Crusade, is laying siege to a French castle. As history records, during the siege, Richard suffered a neck wound from an arrow and died soon after. This resulted in the crown being passed along to his younger brother, Prince John. Robin seizes the opportunity to return to his native England for the first time since he was five only to find a nation crippled by poverty and robbed of its men by Richard's reckless bid to fund his wars. As the spectre of a French invasion looms on the horizon, Richard's incompetent brother is content to let his people suffer while he fills his coffers. Key to Helgeland's tale is the birth of the Magna Carta, the charter signed at Runnymede in 1215 after the uprising by the English barons against King John. It is a moment that defined the birth of democratic England, freeing its Anglo-Saxon population from the harsh rule of the Norman kings. When Robin travels to Nottingham, he falls for the spirited widow, Lady Marion (Cate Blanchett), a woman sceptical of the identity and motivations of this crusader from the forest. Hoping to earn the hand of this fair maid and salvage the village, Robin assembles a gang whose lethal mercenary skills are matched only by its appetite for life. With their country weakened from decades of war, embattled from the ineffective rule of the new king and vulnerable to insurgencies from within and threats from afar, Robin and his men heed a call to ever greater adventure. Crowe and Blanchett lead a cast of accomplished performers, including Matthew MacFadyen as the Sheriff of Nottingham, William Hurt as Sir William Marshal, Kevin Durand as Little John, Mark Addy as Friar Tuck, Oscar Isaac as Prince John, Danny Huston as King Richard The Lionheart, and Max Von Sydow as Sir Walter Loxley. This reuniting of Crowe and Scott delivers another solid collaboration - though not on the same epic scale as 'Gladiator'. Great set pieces, effective sound effects where the arrows carry as much dread as the bullets in 'Saving Private Ryan', wonderful countryside that'll surely swell the coffers of Nottingham's hospitality industry, and a very engaging re-telling of an age-old tale are the hallmarks of this movie. Added to this is the chemistry between Crowe and Blanchett, not to mention the great ensemble acting of the large, and mostly well-chosen cast. This Robin Hood has no tights, plenty of brawn and a fair amount of 21st century attitude dripping from his quiver. A cracking start to the blockbuster season.