2 out of 5

Director: Ridley Scott

This would have worked had they ditched all the imagery of Robin Hoods archery daring-do and not called it Robin Hood but instead… as many jokes have probably hinted… called it Hood Begins or something. Because its misleading: this is not the Robin Hood tale we known, re-told in Gladiator epicness, rather its the story leading up to that. And its interesting, seeing Mr. Hood discover his lineage and his path, as a post-abandoning soldier to the champion of the under-privileged, but the story thats there gets glammed up for Hollywood and then given some big budget romance and jokery. It is enjoyable, and incredibly predictable, and a bit too easy and nice. The grime that should be there never is, and they talk about characters smelling but you cant really …smell…it, as a viewer. With different expectations and marketing, this wouldve worked in the same way Gladiator did… as a story of someone becoming who theyre meant to be. Unfortunately, youre pairing our memory of a massive scale movie with knowledge of the classic Robin Hood story, and so this more meager showing of the characters roots never impresses.