After battling in the Crusades for four years, Robin (Taron Egerton) comes home to find that his home has been corrupted by the Sherriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelson).
Director: Otto Bathurst
Cast: Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelson, Eve Hewson, Jamie Dornan
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for extended sequences of violence and action, and some suggestive references
Fun Fact: Filming was postponed so Taron Egerton could finish other work he was doing. The director wanted Egerton on the production badly that they waited for Egerton’s arrival.
Robin Hood 2018 mind you, because there are so many of these Robin Hood movies that they need to be sorted out by date tells the tale of Robin Hood. How Little John trains him to be amazing with bow and arrows and to steal from the rich for the poor…..
Ok I’m just going to go ahead and say this, that this movie is awful. I haven’t been this worked up since the Tom Cruise version of The Mummy. So many bad decisions are made that I’m shocked that this was released because it’s embarrassing. I must question director Otto Bathurst’s vision. Every actor’s performance is terrible, and it feels like it was all done in one take. Every bad guy yells and growls HOW MUCH THEY HATE ROBIN HOOD! HOW THEY NEED TO GET ROBIN HOOD BEFORE HE TAKES ALL THE MONEY! These villains try to be menacing but, it comes off as comical. Looking at this cast list I’m seeing good names attached to this project. It’s frustrating that so much talent is wasted on this with horrible performances. Jamie Foxx is a terrific actor and seeing him trying to carry this script is hard to watch. He’s given these weird comedic lines that don’t work. Friar Tuck played by Tim Minchin is supposed to be the comedic relief in this but, none of his lines were amusing.
The main source of problems is the production values. The beginning calls for his modernized battle scene that looks like it was straight out of a Call of Duty game. The costumes look like the characters walked into an upscale fashion store and nothing Medieval like. I was expecting Robin Hood to pull out an iPhone at some point and turn on GPS to find where all the money was. If you want to make a modernized version of Robin Hood, that could be an interesting concept but, mixing the new and the old doesn’t work out the slightest bit. The editing is a 300 style of slow motion and fast paced that is overused. The camera work on the action scenes is shaky and up close that half of the time you don’t know what is going on at the time the action is taking place.
Another thing that doesn’t shine is we have a horrible script to accompany it. From forced comedic dialogue to sub plots that don’t go anywhere specific, it’s a wonder how they decided to green light this production. We have this sub plot that deals with a corrupt church and the Sheriff of Nottingham that you won’t care about. A love triangle is introduced because a movie like this really needs it. It just comes off as forced and predictable. Those elements make it a boring film to watch because you won’t care about what’s going on screen.
It really feels like the studio is trying to make a Robin Hood cinematic universe. They don’t care if this movie is terrible or not, all they care about is how much money they can make. Instead of focusing on making one good movie and worrying about sequels later, we get a rushed terrible movie only caring about how many more movies they can make. At least with Marvel they focus on quality and quantity with quality coming first. This film did not as my question is, is there really a demand for a Robin Hood cinematic universe? This character isn’t a superhero and they tried hard to make it that way. Quit trying to make non superhero characters into something they’re not.
Overall, 2018’s Robin Hood is a terrible film that should be forgotten and it’s one of the worst films I’ve seen a while. Good actors and actresses are wasted with horrible dialogue and performances. The production values are murky, and it isn’t a pleasant film to look at. This film was nominated for a few Razzies and Otto Bathurst is lucky he didn’t receive a nomination for the direction he took this film. Another interesting thing is Leonardo DiCaprio is listed as a producer for this. I’m not sure how much influence he had in this but, even for some of the greats in Hollywood, not all things can be hits.
Verdict: Miss
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