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One of the potential summer blockbusters  Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood,  a revisionist telling of the English folk tale.  Revisionist in that is based on revisionist history and the original folklore, even though it is really a “prequel” to the original tale.

The movie begins with King Richard the Lionhearted getting himself killed as he and his army, which contains Robin Longstride, played by Russell Crowe, who eventually becomes Robin Hood, as he returns from the crusades by pillaging its way through France.  Now, most of us know that Richard came home through Austria and was captured and held for ransom by an Austrian duke.  But this might be one of the least revisionist parts of the movie, since even though Richard did not come home through France, his, as well as the other crusaders were much more known for murder, rape and pillage theen for their religious endeavors.

Eventually Robin becomes Robin of Loxley, son of Sir Walter Loxley, marvelously played by Max von Sydow,and already promised to Lady Marion, played by Kate Blanchett.
There follows some political intrigue and soe battles between various forces that ends with Robin being decreed an outlaw, and so the folklore can begin  I could be accused here of giving the plot away, but I didn’t think there was one, not much of one anyway.

Usually I see a movie like this to see an interpretation of twelfth century England in this case.  But I’m not sure that’s what I saw  In fact, I didn’t see much of a story, interesting dialogue or historical scenes.  I did enjoy the casting of Oscar Isaac as the quintessential evil Prince/King John.  There are many more important actors in this film: Vanessa Redgrave and William Hurt among them.  None of them play roles we might expect, like Friar Tuck, Will Scarlet and Little John,  all of which have essentially bit parts.

I found the movie dark, in mood as well as photography and not very interesting.  It might be worth seeing to see some talented actors at work.  The country scenes are nice, but I understand their authenticity is in doubt.  I suppose I could ccall this a costume drama with some violence, or maybe we could compare it to a spaghetti wesstern with not so much violence.  At any rate, comedy, plot and character development, romance are all absent.  No heros either, not even Crowe’s Robin Hood, who comes off to me like a Bret Favre turned political activist.

Script           C
Acting           B
Casting         B
Necessity to suspend disbelief      B
CGI              None, that I noticed
Scenery          B