Our leading hero is naturally Robin of Loxley (Taron Edgartown). Our film begins with Robin falling in love with Marian (Eve Hewson) and soon being called to go fight in the crusades. After watching him fights and survive many battles, Robin meets a man named John (Jamie Foxx). 

When Robin returns home, he discovers everything he owned is now gone or destroyed, including his house. It had also been rumoured that Robin died while fighting in the crusades and we quickly discover that Marian has remarried and the people now live in fear and poverty thanks to the Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn). Robin and John decide to unite to make a stand and fight back against the Sheriff, helping the city and its people.

I personally have seen many film variations of the classic story of Robin Hood. These variations include Walt Disney’s animation, Robin Hood putting on tights (tights!), and of course the more recent Robin Hood film (2010) with the same title as this one and featuring Russell Crowe. Here we have a version that is rather different once again. This is a Robin Hood film that aims for pure entertainment, in particular regarding action and its attempts at humour.  

The character of Robin Hood in this variation is unfortunately not a true leader but more of a follower. His actions (including his “special skills sets”) are actually strongly influenced by others, such as John (Jamie Foxx). I was also surprised to see this Robin Hood struggling to make decisions in the heat of the moment.

As for the romance between Robin Hood and Marian, I found it to be a huge disappointment. It only reminded me of teenage love stories such as Twilight, and the audience is forced to suffer yet again with a “love triangle”. Marian also enjoys wearing revealing outfits and full make-up all the time. This can be rather surprising considering she and the city are all suffering with poverty. Despite this, Marian looks like some type of model and consequently feels unrealistic whenever she appears on screen. Our villain, The Sheriff, is a minor highlight of the film, but all he enjoys doing is either yelling or giving lengthy rants. Jamie Foxx is easily the stand out, but only by a hairline.

As for the action, yes, it could be seen as fun and some could say it’s entertaining, but sadly it feels like nothing new and some of the action sequences I found boring as no suspense or tension is ever raised. Along with this, the style of action is something we have seen countless times before- fast and then slow motion action, 300 style. The Green Screen work was also a major distraction, particularly in the close up shots of one specific action scene.

Overall, I feel like I’ve been robbed as Robin Hood is an extreme disappointment. With the storyline including a “Twilight type love triangle” and action that is unfortunately dull and uninteresting, it’s truly amazing how a story about Robin Hood could be done so poorly. More pleasure can be found from rewatching Robin Hood: Men In Tights (and I’m not kidding). As for the film’s ending…Sigh.

2.6/10

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Review Written by Peter Walkden