Whereas Hollywood is dominated by comic book films and sequels, there's also a long list of unnecessary remakes or reimaginings of classic stories which have already told far more effectively on film. These films have no other reason to exist other then the studios misguided insistence that audiences want to see these films. That appears to be the case with 2018's Robin Hood with the film serving as being a retelling of the classic story that absolutely no one asked for. The newest version aims to take the story and modernize it for today's generation with an enhancing of the films action and special effects. Despite its attempts to give the story a new type of makeover, the end result feels like a pointless cash grab of a legendary tale that audiences know by heart. The new version of Robin Hood brings nothing new to the table in regards to being groundbreaking nor inventive with its story. While the film looks appealing visually, it lacks the heart and thrills of the previous adaptations that made the story a such a timeless tale that filmmakers unnecessarily feel the need to revisit every generation.
The plot for the newest Robin Hood centers around the Nottingham hero Robin of Luxley (Played this time by Kingsman's Taron Egerton) acting as a crusader who returns from the Holy Land to find that both his lands and property have been confiscated and left in ruins. He begins a revolution against the local corrupt church authorities along with the Sheriff of Nottingham himself. To audiences in general, the plot for Robin Hood is nothing new or original as everyone whose seen the Disney animated film or all the numerous live-action retellings, that came after know the gist of the new films plot. What the filmmakers of the new Robin Hood aspire to do is reintroduce the same story to a new generation of audiences, while making the action faster and more appealing as eye-candy. It also benefits that the films new cast is appealing with Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Eve Hewson, Jamie Dornan, Tom Minchin, and Ben Mendelsohn all being quality actors whose talents ultimately feel wasted on an unnecessary reinvigoration, that lacks the thrills and excitement of the main hero it glorifies. Instead, the newest Robin Hood feels like a wannabe Batman Begins style version of the story mixed with 2001's A Knights Tale and CW's Arrow. There's nothing shown in the newest retelling that audiences haven't seen before, which brings them to beg the question of why even bother with another attempt to reimagine the Robin Hood story if the filmmakers were never going to take the story in any type of new direction. The film serves as being a complete waste of audiences time along with its talented cast as they could've been working on something more worthy of their dedication and efforts to make the film a satisfying experience for audiences. The newest Robin Hood desperately tries to justify its existence as being a reboot that's somehow required for the legendary character, but can't bring itself to give any compelling reasons on why it was even necessary to bother with retelling the story or why audiences should even care to watch it, as the story has been both done to death by much stronger filmmakers.
One of the films few redeeming qualities is the strength of its main cast with them delivering performances, which allow them to make the most of their experience despite not being enough to save the film ultimately. Taron Egerton has proven himself through other works to be a highly dependable and quality actor with him making for an inspired choice as Robin of Luxley. Despite his casting appearing as promising, he only manages to be passable as he lacks the charisma of previous actors who played the part of Robin Hood. Jamie Foxx makes the most of his role as a fierce Arabian Warrior and Robin's best friend Yahya ibn Umar, with his character aiding Luxley in his quest after losing his son at the hands of the corrupt Church. Egerton and Foxx showcase fairly solid chemistry, though it's nothing amazing to write home about. Eve Hewson is appealing as Robin's love interest Maid Marian with her romance with Egerton coming across as being relatively believable. Ben Mandelsohn manages to deliver a strong performance as the films main antagonist, the Sheriff of Nottingham. Whereas the film struggles around both him and Egerton, Mandelsohn is able to steal the show with his characters menacing presence. The rest of the supporting cast give noteworthy performances with Tim Minchin as team Robin's goofy yet loyal ally Friar Tuck, Jamie Dornan as Marion's love interest, local politician, and Robin's rival Will Tillman. Although Dornan's character comes across as being completely generic and predictable, he still manages to deliver a serviceable performance. F. Murray Abraham leaves a likeable impression as the Cardinal Franklin despite his character having a minimal part. The cast for Robin Hood is strong with the film boasting some serious talent, which ultimately makes it hugely disappointing that they didn't have a script that's more worthy of their talents to work off. All of the actors shown in the film are capable of delivering fantastic work when the right material is handed to them. None of the acting in Robin Hood stands out as being truly phenomenal work with the performances as a whole ranging from being serviceable to decent work with the best acting coming from Egerton, Foxx, and Mandelsohn. Given how strong of an actor that Egerton has proven himself to be, it's a shame that the script isn't developed well enough for him to showcase his full range as a talented dramatic actor.
The films directing by Otto Bathurst proves to be flashy with him imitating a style of filmmaking that's similar to Guy Ritchie's. Given that this is his directorial debut, one can see the hard effort that Bathurst puts into making this latest adaptation of the story work but it ultimately doesn't in the end. Bathurst aims to make this a Batman Begins style reboot for the character with him making extra sure that the action is faster and more amped up than anything that's been shown before with the character. On a technical side, the film is appealing with the costume and set designs both effectively matching the time period of the story, adding a rich flavor to it. The film is well shot with cinematography that consists of quick cuts, slow-motion shots, and frentic editing that makes the arrow action sequences feel quick and larger-than-life. The pace is steady for the films 116 minute running time but Bathurst ensures that the story remains action heavy with largely impressive action sequences to maintain the audiences attention as both the story and characters progress. Bathurst's efforts here prove to be serviceable as he manages to bring the world of Nottingham to life in a fashion, that appears stunning to audiences while carrying a feeling of grittiness to it that reeks of a Guy Ritchie flick. The film tries so hard to imitate that filmmakers style of directing, that one would almost think he directed it if they didn't look at the directors name in the credits. While Bathurst does well with crafting exciting and thrilling action sequences, he fails to put his own stamp on the film with it feeling as if he's imitating someone else's style of directing rather than creating his own vision of Robin Hood's tale. The film often feels as if it aims to maintain the audiences interest by stacking up the films action sequences and making them as impressive as possible without putting the same amount of effort into its screenplay. Bathurst clearly could've done more here but prioritizes the action without properly taking the time to flesh out the story and characters. At times, the action often feels like a curtain to distract the audience from the realization that he's not even trying to.
The films biggest downfall lies within its painfully cliched script written by Ben Chandler (Who also penned the story) and David James Kelly. The script goes to extreme lengths to modernize the story for today's audiences, while managing to tack on every predictable and generic subplot that's been done before in past Robin Hood and vigilante style films. The romantic triangle between Robin, Marion, and Will feels completely forced and predictable with audiences knowing that Marion will choose Robin over him in the end, especially when she discovers that the former is the hood standing up to the corrupt church and helping the poor. The film attempts to introduce an interesting subplot involving both Robin and the Sheriff of Nottingham being friends with the latter not knowing of the others secret identity until finding out later that his friend is the one defying his rule. Lucky's deceitfulness in not revealing his identity makes him come across as being a Bruce Wayne type persona. While such a subplot has potential to be good on paper, the execution of it is poorly handled with the Sheriff not appearing to be shocked nor enraged at the revealing of Luxley to be the hood he's pursuing. The characterization of the characters feel both one-dimensional as well as being cardboard cutouts of other characters shown in different movies with Tim Minchin playing the generic loyal companion of Robin Hood, and Marion's character being shaped to be the young rebellious and idealistic love interest to the main hero, who secretly still harbors love for Robin's character while conveniently having no clue of his secretive and noble deeds. The Sheriff Of Nottingham doesn't carry much of a character arc or personality with the film insisting that the audience despise him for the sake of him being the Sheriff of Nottingham without much being shown for the audience to totally despise his character. Jamie Foxx's character carries an interesting arc with him beginning on opposite sides of Luxley with him being distrustful of the young hero before befriending and training him to take revenge on the church. The newest version of the Robin Hood story goes out of its way to make the title character younger than most adaptations, while giving him a tragic backstory that draws instant comparisons to Martin Campbell's The Mask Of Zorro. This version of the classic story has Robin returning home to discover that the evil Sheriff of Nottingham has seized his family estate and taken his love away from him. Vengeful of the horrific acts committed upon him and others, he goes on a Bruce Wayne/ Batman Begins style training montage to learn how to efficiently fight back against his oppressors while instilling hope with the people of Nottingham. The biggest problem with the newest Robin Hood story is the film isn't quite sure what it wants to be with it wanting to be a definitive retelling of the story while managing to go out of its way to set up a sequel that audiences will never see (Nor do they wish to given the films poor reception and box office returns), yet the film borrows subplots and elements from other films with stories that cover similar themes such as power, greed, vengeance, hope, freedom, and justice. The script also draws comparisons to today's modern political landscape with the Sheriff of Nottingham being made to represent a Donald J. Trump type figure with the corrupt church being modeled to represent a more current establishment that's based around fear mongering, the misleading of information, the thirst for absolute power, stealing, and taxes. The message that the new Robin Hood aspires to drive home with both its unbalanced narrative and story-structure, is that one is only powerless if they believe they are powerless. With a fitting message that matches the courage, heroism, and bravery of the films main heroic character, it's a genuine disappointment that the script doesn't feel as inspired as the films overall message.
The biggest question that one will have when watching the newest Robin Hood is who was this film intended for. One can see the intent behind the filmmakers in drawing comparisons to today's world with the films numerous themes, but the film isn't quite sure which target audience it aims for. The action is excessively handled to the point where it feels over-the-top and unrealistic with the obvious conclusion being drawn that the film aims for a young teenager audience (Which is also evidenced by the making of the Robin Hood character to be much younger than his previous film adaptations). The switching out of the traditional green attire and the placing of black leather jackets on the main characters, also gives off the notion that the film aims to deliver a newer and hip version of the story for today's youth with the main character feeling like an Arrow type of hero/outlaw vigilante. Besides these minor changes, there's nothing new here that makes the new Robin Hood story particularly groundbreaking nor warrant a new retelling as it only borrows elements from previous works, as well as other vigilante type films to make it whole. The new film lacks any type of charisma and humor to make it appealing rather than feeling like a stale reimagining with no heart or soul behind it. Given how strong of a cast the newest version boasts, the film serves as being a waste of their talents as well as everyone's time and money that could've went to something more creative and genuinely more satisfying than what the filmmakers try to present here. Robin Hood 2018 rightfully earns its place as being one of the years biggest bombs with fans of the characters mythology, as well as both Egerton and Foxx being encouraged to disregard this painfully disappointing attempt at reviving an already well-established character and story and revert to a more entertaining version of the main character. It also manages to make the previous questionable adaptations of the Robin Hood tale look more perfect in comparison like 1991's Prince Of Thieves or Ridley Scott's 2010 critical misfire. The only thing that the new Robin Hood manages to steal is ones time and money that went into watching this mess.
Final Verdict: Fans of Robin Hood and both Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx should most definitely skip the latest reimagining of the Robin Hood story and settle for rewatching Prince Of Thieves instead.
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