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Robin Hood Our rating: Your rating: 1 2 3 4 Your Comments: see all MPAA rating: PG-13 (for violence including intense sequences of warfare, and some sexual content) Genre: Adventure, Drama Theater release: May 14, 2010 by Universal Pictures Directed by: Ridley Scott Runtime: 2 hours 20 minutes Cast: Russell Crowe (Robin Longstride), Cate Blanchett (Marion Loxley), Oscar Isaac (Prince John), Mark Strong (Godfrey), Kevin Durand (Little John), Scott Grimes (Will Scarlet), William Hurt (William Marshal), Max von Sydow (Sir Walter Loxley), Danny Huston (King Richard the Lionheart), Matthew Macfadyen (Sherriff of Nottingham) Related: Talk About It/Family Corner

The latest incarnation of Robin Hood boasts a superb cast, and like most films by director Ridley Scott, it's technically well made in many ways. But gosh, it could sure have used more Merry Men in it.

The legend of Robin Hood has been done so many different ways in film and TV, it's hard to declare any one interpretation as definitive. We're talking about a character who once epitomized swashbuckling adventure through classic portrayals by Douglas Fairbanks and Errol Flynn, was animated as a fox by Disney, depicted as an aging romantic by Sean Connery, rebooted as a rousing blockbuster featuring Kevin Costner (and his oft maligned accent), and parodied by comedic director Mel Brooks. And that's just a handful of the adaptations over the last hundred years.

Working off a screenplay by Brian Helgeland, Scott seems intent on bringing gritty authenticity to the Robin Hood mythos. This is Robin Hood via Braveheart, or using Scott's own resumé, Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. Be warned: the violence isn't playful or swashbuckling, but intense and often brutal (yet mostly bloodless in accordance with its PG-13 rating). Other adaptations may have the sun shining in Sherwood Forest, but this one is considerably more drab and gray, barely showing us the sun … or Sherwood Forest, for that matter.

Russell Crowe as Robin Hood

The movie begins with Marion Loxley (Cate Blanchett) fending off thieving orphans stealing food from her estate in Nottingham. She's in charge while her husband Sir Robert Loxley is away, serving in the army of King Richard (Danny Huston) during the Third Crusade.

Cut to the army, which is struggling to get home due to battles with the French. Among the elite soldiers are archers Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) and Will Scarlet (Scott Grimes of ER), as well as a hulking strongman named Little John (Kevin Durand of Lost). After being disciplined and humiliated by King Richard for an unruly brawl and their outspoken opinions, Robin and his band plan to desert and make haste back to England.

Fate intervenes, however, with the untimely death of King Richard. Robin's band learns the news after stumbling on a dispatch of soldiers killed by French assassins, among them a dying Sir Robert Loxley. His final wish is for Robin to return the king's crown to England and his sword to his father, Sir Walter Loxley (Max von Sydow). What follows is a tale of mistaken identity similar to Martin Guerre (or its contemporary remake, Sommersby) as Robin is asked by Sir Walter to pose as Marion's husband to ward off unworthy suitors … and learn the mysterious truth about his past.

Cate Blanchett as Marion

Meanwhile, Richard's younger brother John (Oscar Isaac from The Nativity Story) is proclaimed king, but he quickly dismisses his brother's chief advisor (William Hurt), selfishly replacing him with Godfrey (Mark Strong from 2009's Sherlock Holmes) to bully English subjects into paying more taxes. Unbeknownst to King John, however, Godfrey is a double agent working in collusion with King Phillip of France—their goal is to create dissent among the English nobility and citizens, creating a perfect climate for invasion. If only England had a hero to rally behind.

Does this new spin on an old story seem needlessly complicated? Rest assured it most certainly is. Since Robin Hood was a folklore character who rallied people at the time, Helgeland and Scott try to pass him off as a historical character that rallied England together much like William Wallace rallied Scotland. Fine, except as often as the filmmakers strive for historical accuracy (e.g. the political climate that led to King John's signing of the Magna Carta), they get something else wrong (e.g. King Richard killed during a battle by a French cook).

Robin Hood is primarily fiction, of course, but this film tries to have it both ways. If realism is the goal, then let's see a story about Kings Richard and John, the Battle of Bouvines and the Magna Carta. If it's the legend of Robin Hood, then let's have a good slice of fiction that adheres to the old stories, shall we?

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