We first meet the most famous bandit as a soldier of the crusades imprisoned in Muslim controlled Jerusalem along with his dear friend Peter, the brother of Maid Marian. Robin (Kevin Costner, Field of Dreams) of course makes a daring and amazing escape, freeing a moore (Morgan Freeman, Deep Impact) in the process, but losing Peter to the archers above the city.
Flash Forward and Robin returns to England, happy to be alive, but soon he is utterly destroyed by the facts centering around his home of Nottingham. The Sheriff (Allen Rickman, Die Hard) has bribed the Lords of the land to oppose the king in his absence, and those who did not join him he killed, including Robin’s Father, Lord Locksley.
After losing his home, land, money and title, a run in with local foot soldiers forces him and his friends into hiding as outlaws, unable to be helped by Maid Marian. In the forests of Sherwood, he finds the true outlaws and determines that he has found the army which will stand against the wicked Sheriff.
This is a great modernization and adaptation from some of the hokier older versions of Robinhood, which include the animated version and the Arrel Flynn version. Those are so folksy, and ridiculous, this one is about heroism, and valor, and what it means to be a patriot, and a man. There are a lot of themes of people, and growing up, and what it means to come home, and I could go on and on, but this is one of the great epic movies of our time filled with good actors, and really fun setting, and really smooth, gritty story telling.
My one beef with this movie is the absolute worst stage violence I have ever seen. The sowrd fight at the end is preposterous, and most of the violence in between, with the exception of the quarter staff duel, is absolutely stupid looking. Hire a choreographer please! But still a 2.
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