Robin Hood resembles Braveheart more than the Errol Flynn or Richard Greene incarnations of the Outlaw of Sherwood Forest. In fact, until the end of the movie, Sherwood Forest is a no-show. Russell Crowe plays a grumpy Robin, returning from the fiasco of the Crusades. When King Richard the Lionheart dies in France, Crowe, with his band of men, flee to Nottingham. There, Crowe accepts the offer to play the role of the returning son of a local baron (the real son was murdered by one of evil King John’s minions). Part of the role is to pretend to be the husband of Cate Blanchett. I wish director Ridley Scott involved Cate more in the action (she missing for most of the first hour). There are plenty of battles and the action seldom flags in this 140 minute film. The ending suggests a sequel. GRADE: B
I’m interested in seeing this and I’m glad you liked it. Cate is my #1 actress these days, so I’ll definitely check it out.
This version of ROBIN HOOD is gritty, David. If you go in with that perspective, you’ll enjoy it. MEN IN TIGHTS, it’s not.
Everyone I know who has seen this called it “endless” – my sister said she felt like she was born in the theater, she’d been there so long.
And I’m not a fan of Braveheart, so…
I’ll admit 140 minutes is a bit long, Jeff. But the pacing didn’t bother me.
Sine you used the word, George, I’ll ask: what is the definition of “gritty”? No, not the dictionary definition of “containing grit” but the one for the way it’s used by every writer, blogger and reviewer (except me) over the last couple decades and longer. And my obvious response, after you answer, will be than why not use THOSE words??
As for the film, I thought it looked good in the early trailers, but the more I read about it, the less I want to see it.
I suppose gritty is the opposite of glitzy, Rick. ROBIN HOOD is gritty and IRON MAN 2 is glitzy. As far as typos are concerned, we all have that problem.
Dammit, I can’t EVER seem to make a comment w/o a typo. I re-read and just don’t see them until I click the “post” button. BAH!
No good defining a word by it’s antonym, George. You ducked the question, but that’s okay. I just thought that, since it’s used so often, there might be – and you would know it – a definition which explains why THAT word is substituted for whatever the person using it really is trying to say. Seems to me the word should be a synonym of “unpleasant”, but that’s not how it’s meant by most users. I may turn this into a post one of these days…
“Gritty” is just shorthand for dirty, grubby, primitive, brutal, and realistic, Rick. This latest version of ROBIN HOOD is all those things. IRON MAN 2 is none of those things.
What, no HOT TUB TIME MACHINE review yet?
HOT TUB TIME MACHINE is on my list, Drongo. But first, I’ll have to see some artsy films and some romantic comedies.