By Eddy
If you hold the legend of Robin Hood sacred, you might be a bit disturbed by this film (though I never really cared to find out what that true legend was). If you expect to see another version of the Kevin Costner film you might be disappointed by this film and if you hoped that the reunion of Director Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe will result in something like Gladiator be in for a rude awaking.
Not to say that Robin Hood doesn’t hold anything in common with Gladiator . Both movies disregard any attempt at being historically accurate. Not that I blame them, I am pretty sure I wouldn’t have been able to find anyone who could truly answer whether Robin Hood was an actual historical figure or not. Needless, after a bit of investigating (Wikipedia!!!!) things begin to fall apart and that doesn’t even count all the changes to the story of Robin Hood that most people have learned and loved.
In this film, Robin is a common archer fighting in the crusades. After many battles fighting for a cause he no longer supports he decides to leave after the death of King Richard and go back to England. It just so happens that he come near the end of a French attempt (once again playing the bad guys) first to assassinate the King, but considering this was already done for them, the purpose changed to stealing King Richard’s crown to create panic and soften the English people up for a French Invasion (apparently during this time, it was the French who were the tough Thugs of the world…my how things have changed). Robin takes this opportunity to take the identity of one of the slain knights (Robin of Loxley) and returns to England where he promises the fallen Knight that he will return his sword to his father. He then gets to England returns the sword and meets Marion (the widow of the knight) and a couple of the other characters we know and love. What then happens is a weird version of The Talented Mr. Ripley mixed in with what we already know about Robin Hood (you will have to watch it to understand). The rest of the story unfolds without anything really unexpected or spectacular needing
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