I did not really know what to expect going into Ridley Scott's rendition of Robin Hood. Outside of the film taking the Batman and James Bond route and creating a vague prequel/reconstruction of the character, there was really nothing much going for it. The trailers were action-packed, but none of them really piqued my interest. It looked more like another Russell Crowe period piece a la Gladiator. But when offered advance passes to see the film, I figured it may be worth a look.

Before Robin Hood (Crowe) became the courageous and generous outlaw Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner and an animated fox made famous, he was fighting as an archer for the British in a war against the French. Upon return to England, Robin ends up in Nottingham impersonating a dead soldier. As the new King John (Oscar Isaac) begins imposing heavy taxes across the country to pay for the war, the villainous Godfrey (Mark Strong) begins to conspire against his own country. And rather fittingly, Robin is stuck in the middle of it all.

The trailers for Robin Hood give an early suggestion for how epic the movie wants to feel. But the epic aura during the film feels forced. There is a simple story at the heart of the story: a man becoming the legend we know him to be. But the film takes so many turns, throws so many characters at us, and becomes so distracted that this simple story is almost nowhere to be found. The first quarter of the film where we are introduced to Robin, his earliest followers and the conflict between the English and the French is handled fairly great and smooth. It goes by quickly, and has a great pacing to it. But as the film starts to give way to multiple storylines and characters, the entire fabric of anything it had going for it crumbles to pieces.

The entire middle section of the film, leading up to the final battle scene, is almost agonizing to watch. The actors are attempting to make something of their characters, but what the film seems to think is character and plot development actually seem more like filler. There are easily twenty minutes that could have been chopped right out of this section of the film, and none of it would be missed. The film never puts nearly enough emphasis on anyone but Robin or the future Maid Marion (Cate Blanchett), and even then, it is not nearly enough. Instead, it just jumps from character to character, storyline to storyline, almost absentmindedly. I wanted to feel like I could follow the simplistic plotting and connect the pieces of who each character later becomes in the story, but I just had a hard time trying to comprehend the directions screenwriter Brian Helgeland wants to take the audience. The man knows how to write a movie, and I know Scott knows how to make a movie. So how can we explain how choppy it feels?

As Robin Hood, Crowe seems to be offering a mere caricature of his Oscar-winning role as Maximus. His age is not a factor as much as he just does not seem able to really transcend and become the legendary character. While Christian Bale was able to play the confused and borderline psychotic Batman before he became the hero, and Daniel Craig was able to redefine James Bond for a generation, Crowe seems inept at even attempting to try and make us believe this could be Robin Hood. He just lacks the zest and the charisma to make this future outlaw believable. Much the same goes for Blanchett, who seems horribly miscast as a Marion much too close to Eowyn from The Lord of the Rings. [So they should have cast Miranda Otto? – Ed.]

The supporting cast, for what they are given, fare a bit better. I would have loved more of Isaac's John, William Hurt's William Marshall, Max von Sydow's Sir Walter Loxley and Matthew Macfadyen's Sheriff of Nottingham. All are excellent in their roles, but are used so sparingly it hurts. Strong is criminally underused as the primary villain in the film, and the focus on the humour involving Mark Addy's Friar Tuck seems a bit too overused. And while enjoyable, I think they could have written a little less humour for Robin's merry men of Kevin Durand, Scott Grimes and Alan Doyle.

What I did love was the sound design and score for the film. While everything else seemed to be unraveling at the very seams, both elements of sound seemed to stay consistent and strong. The whizzing arrows, the galloping horses, the smacking swords – all of these sounds are recorded so well and so vividly. I rarely notice the sounds in films, but this one seemed to have a special attention given to them that drew me in right from the beginning. Much the same goes for Marc Streitenfeld’s pounding score, which is not overly memorable, but is beautifully composed. It knows just the right tone and attitude to go for in every scene, and helped lend some semblance of a reason for the film to be considered an epic.

The battle scenes, while reminiscent of Gladiator, are also very well done. The film does not have enough of them, but the lack of blatantly noticeable CGI and amped up grittiness made them another easy highlight for the film. I just wish they were longer.

There is some watchability to this mess entitled Robin Hood. It easily could have been much better with more focus and less filler. As it is, this epic is bloated to near disastrous proportions with very few shining elements. It pales in comparison to the massively overrated Gladiator, and in the end, feels like the filmmakers just had no idea what they wanted to do to properly reconstruct the legend.

-- David Baldwin