Robin Hood (Movie)

The new version of Robin Hood views the story from a new angle, placing the action after the ascension of King John (Oscar Isaacs). The story opens with Robin (Russell Crowe) as an archer in the service of King Richard the Lion-hearted, who was returning from the Crusades and laying siege to a castle in France on the way. This is very like how Robin and Marion (with Sean Connery and Audrey Hepburn) opened. In the wake of King Richard's death, Robin returns to England. However, he assumes the identity of a knight he finds dying on the road, a man named Robert Loxley. Much of the identifiable Robin Hood tale is missing or hardly touched upon. His only robbery is to steal some bags of seed for the fields of Nottingham. The Sherriff of Nottingham is mostly a comic figure who proves generally incompetent and not at all intimidating. Really, this movie is about Robin helping to unite the barons with King John to defend against a French invasion fleet.

It is posited that Robin's father proposed the Magna Carta and, in the movie, the King is forced to accede to the demands of his barons to consider such a charter to win their aid against the French invasion. Of course, the moment the invasion is thwarted, he burns the charter. Yes, it will be another 15 years before it is forced upon him. Back to Robin, it is odd that a humble archer of the 12th/13th Century is literate. Even the noble knights were often not literate, but an orphan left on his own since age six is literate. This is unusual enough that it should have been explained.

One peculiar bit was the existence of the orphans in the forest. In the opening of the movie, children in crude masks ransack the Loxley barn. Later, we see these youths steal from Robin and his men while they slept in the wilds. These lost boys are runaways from Nottingham, living a Lord of the Flies existence. Marian (Cate Blanchett) works her way among them through force of will while Robin makes the same journey as an unconscious captive tied to a branch like some felled deer. Even so, Robin wins their respect.

Robin has his crew. Little John is a common soldier who wields a huge hammer. The two brawl in the beginning but it is not with staves; strong friendship ensues. There is also Will Scarlet and Allan A'Dayle. Friar Tuck is the newly installed priest at Nottingham, a beekeeper who likes his mead (wine made from honey). All are fairly well-developed for supporting characters.

I tire of female warriors. I liked Xena and I've enjoyed Lara Croft but this is getting out of hand. In King Arthur (2004), we had Guinevere: Warrior Princess. In Pirates of the Caribbean, we had Emily Swann: Pirate Princess. In the British TV version of Robin Hood, Maid Marion is a vigilante in ninja garb. In this movie, we have Maid Marian donning armor, leading the orphan brigade against the French invasion, and daring to engage Godfrey in single combat. You have got to be kidding. Yes, there are historical examples of women warriors but they were the exception, not the rule. Today, it seems no period movie can do without transforming the women into warriors. I can hardly wait for the epic story of the Civil War where we meet Mary Todd Lincoln: Warrior First Lady.

Godfrey (Mark Strong), the movie's primary villain, was robbed. English archers were the dominant force of European battlefields for centuries but, if forced into a swordfight with a knight, they would be dead very quickly. Robin should have been no match for Godfrey in a sword fight. That the entirely untrained Marian unhorsed him was just a travesty.

The movie does overlook a few things. King John did marry Isabella of Angouleme. She was 12 years-old at the time, much younger than the 25 year-old Lea Seydoux who plays her. What happened to the King Richard's army? It was left in France and yet France is able to stage an invasion of England rather than engage the English army still in France? Considering that the movie takes place immediately upon the death of Richard, there should be mention of Arthur. John's older brother, Geoffrey, had a son named Arthur. Arthur had a legitimate claim to the throne – arguably a better claim than John – and he romped around English holdings in France during the initial years of John's reign. Rebellious barons would certainly have called for the overthrow of John in favor of Arthur. At one point in the film, there is a funeral. A funeral pyre is lit. Catholicism frowned on cremation, viewing it as a pagan practice.

Robin is not declared outlaw until the movie ends. We see him living a life of contentment somewhere in Sherwood Forest. Perhaps this is meant to setup a sequel that will be more in line with the traditional stories of Robin Hood.

 

Though written in jest, Mary Todd Lincoln: Warrior First Lady did come to pass a mere two years later in Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Beyond Sherwood Forest

What happens when you combine Robin Hood with a dragon?  You get this 2009 movie:

 

It is 1174 AD. Three men are chasing a dragon. One races ahead and fights the beast with his sword, getting mortally wounded for his troubles. As the other two ride to their fallen comrade, the dragon plummets from the sky and into the woods.  "I told you I hit it,"€ Malcolm declares and races off to finish the beast. Robin stays with Roland, the Sheriff of Nottingham.  "œYou're Sheriff now,"€ Roland says and dies of his wounds. Meanwhile, Malcolm encounters a naked girl who has one of his arrows sticking out of her. Though she begs for his help, he stabs her repeatedly. Yet she does not die. He reasons that an immortal girl who becomes a dragon when exposed to sunlight could be an asset. Sheriff Robin sees things differently and wants to help the cursed girl. Malcolm will not be denied and attacks.

Elsewhere in the forest, teenaged Robert is trying to impress a teenaged Marian with his feats of archery. Not only is he a miserable archer, Robert is painfully obtuse with regard to Marian's affections. He leaves her in the forest, declaring he is off to hunt with his father. He happens upon the action between his father - Sheriff Robin - and Malcolm. He sees Malcolm kill his father and flees for his life. He hides near a mysterious gateway wreathed with blue-fire that leads to another world. Hmm, could this explain the presence of a dragon? Unable to locate young Robert, Malcolm finally leaves to carry off his prize and assume the office of Sheriff of Nottingham.

15 years later, our story resumes. That would make the year 1189. In 1189, Richard had not yet left for the Crusade (he departed in the summer of 1190) and Prince John had not yet usurped his way into the Regency. Nonetheless, our tale proposes that these things have happened. Robert, now calling himself Robin Hood, is doing the standard Robin Hood steal-from-the-rich-and-give-to-the-poor routine. He is joined by Gareth, a mute boy and thief, and the towering Little John. We also meet Friar Tuck and Will Scarlet along the way.

It so happens that Robin has captured something far more valuable than he realizes in his latest foray and Sheriff Malcolm finally resorts to unleashing his girl-dragon to track him down. In order to fight the dragon, Robin leads Little John and Will through the magical gate and into the Dark Woods and Beyond Sherwood Forest. Here they meet the Sylvans (basically druids) who explain that Alina (the girl-dragon) is a half-breed, part human and part Sylvan. The Dark Woods never have sunlight so she was shunned but not dangerous.

At one point, Marion complains to her father that she does not want to marry a man who is 20 years her senior. Well, Leopold of Austria was born in 1157, which would make him only 32 at the time of our story. And Marion was a teen in 1174, making her an old maid of 29 at the youngest. It is no wonder she is an old maid since she spends an inordinate amount of time practicing her combat skills. When she and Robin are first reunited after years apart, the two fight with staves on a log (the famed battle that Robin usually has with Little John).

Basically, this is the standard story of Robin Hood with a dragon tacked on to it. Alina is a sympathetic character, forced to be the Sheriff's pawn. Of course, later developments make you wonder why she is a pawn even though he possesses something of hers. She has made a bargain of sorts that has not paid off in 15 years but she is inexplicably hopeful that the Sheriff will eventually hold up his end.

This was one of the better SyFy movies. The plot is much less forced than most such shows and the characters likeable. This is D&D meets Robin Hood. The gateway, which might seem clumsy to some, was very fitting. It was something that might have appeared in Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell; perhaps called the "True Story of Robin Hood"™ or the like.

Robin Hood (TV Series)

On April 29, 2008, I saw the BBC's Robin Hood show and was less than impressed.

 

The BBC has a show, now in its second season, about Robin Hood. I saw ads for it online and was intrigued. I like historical fiction and thought this might be entertaining. Well, I have now seen the premiere episode to the second season and am aghast at what the British have done to Robin Hood. This is Robin Hood meets Xena. There is entirely too much kicking, jumping, spinning, flipping, and martial arts. In the few battles we see, though all are armed with swords or bows, no one is wounded. To make matters even worse, Maid Marian is now the Nightwatcher (or something like that) who stalks about in a mask and subdues guards with her unarmed fighting skills; one might describer her as a Ninja. Though it is incredibly obvious from the fit of her costume that the Nightwatcher is a woman, everyone refers to the Nightwatcher as `him.' Toward the end of the show, Robin has an arrow aimed at the Sheriff who is only a few feet away, a sure kill. However, he learns that King John has made a deal with the Sheriff to utterly destroy Nottingham (slaying every man, woman, and child) if the Sheriff should die an unnatural death. Oh, how convenient. Robin cannot kill the Sheriff in the series, only his lackeys. Talk about lazy writers. Another annoying thing was when one character told another to `Jigger off!' That was such a popular expression in the 12th Century. Much of the dialogue was no different than it might be if the show were set in modern times. Painful to watch, best avoided.

 

Despite my own warning, I watched another episode some weeks later where Robin swears off killing (not that he had killed anyone in anything I had yet seen), announcing that he can't stomach it anymore: Robin Hood the Pacifist.  He needed to abandon the freedom fighting and just become a hunter.  The show managed to go one more season, running from 2006 to 2009, and is well-rated (7.6) on IMDb.  Maybe I encountered a rare bad episode.  None of the actors have become famous yet.