cactuswatcher (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
cactuswatcher) wrote2010-05-17 02:56 pm
cactuswatcher) wrote2010-05-17 02:56 pm
Robin Hood
I just went to see the lastest Robin Hood with Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchette .
Russell Crowe plays the same heroic guy he always plays, this one a little more subdued than some others. Cate Blanchette as Marion is fabulous, but then when isn't she? The rest of the cast is sort of just there for flavor, but there are no real complaints on that score.
Any relationship between the movie and genuine history or the Robin Hood legend we grew up with is purely coincidental. It's a rousing story that happens to use character names we're familiar with from other contexts. King Richard is more like he was in real life than we're used to seeing. King John is the weaselly caricature we always see in movies. For a change we get to see William the Marshal and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Will Scarlet, Alan a' Dale, Little John and Friar Tuck (pronounced 'tuke' like Bilbo Baggins' cousins) are all in there too, though there's hardly enough time to appreciate them individually.
We should expect modern tellings of Robin Hood to have anachronistic political themes. We might as well expect anachronistic music, which is what we get. Irish Celtic crosses show up in the middle of the turn of the 13th century English villages. So why not have the music tend toward 21st century Celtic?. I'm almost positive the sound effects will come off better at home on DVD than they did in the theater, where they sort of blended together into an almost constant boom, at times.
It's a battle heavy action film, not as battle-awful as The Two Towers nor as gory as Braveheart. But not exactly for the kiddies either.
It's way better than Kevin Costner's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The costumes are less silly than Errol Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood Even when it descends into silliness and it does, the new Robin Hood still is rousing fun. I recommend it. See it on DVD, if not at the theater.
Russell Crowe plays the same heroic guy he always plays, this one a little more subdued than some others. Cate Blanchette as Marion is fabulous, but then when isn't she? The rest of the cast is sort of just there for flavor, but there are no real complaints on that score.
Any relationship between the movie and genuine history or the Robin Hood legend we grew up with is purely coincidental. It's a rousing story that happens to use character names we're familiar with from other contexts. King Richard is more like he was in real life than we're used to seeing. King John is the weaselly caricature we always see in movies. For a change we get to see William the Marshal and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Will Scarlet, Alan a' Dale, Little John and Friar Tuck (pronounced 'tuke' like Bilbo Baggins' cousins) are all in there too, though there's hardly enough time to appreciate them individually.
We should expect modern tellings of Robin Hood to have anachronistic political themes. We might as well expect anachronistic music, which is what we get. Irish Celtic crosses show up in the middle of the turn of the 13th century English villages. So why not have the music tend toward 21st century Celtic?. I'm almost positive the sound effects will come off better at home on DVD than they did in the theater, where they sort of blended together into an almost constant boom, at times.
It's a battle heavy action film, not as battle-awful as The Two Towers nor as gory as Braveheart. But not exactly for the kiddies either.
It's way better than Kevin Costner's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The costumes are less silly than Errol Flynn's The Adventures of Robin Hood Even when it descends into silliness and it does, the new Robin Hood still is rousing fun. I recommend it. See it on DVD, if not at the theater.