Mendelson's Memos
Essays, Reviews, Commentary, and Original Scholarship. A Film Blog that strives to be Art.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Ridley Scott's Robin Hood gets a second trailer. Still bored.
Sorry folks, this looks really uninteresting. We already had a 'serious, historically relevant' take on Robin Hood back in 1991, and quite a few critics attacked it for its violence, grimness, and overall darkness. Wanna bet this version gets praised for exactly those things?
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
may have been a tonally awkward and occasionally absurd movie, but it had a cast to die for and several colorful characters to prop up its revisionist story of 'Robin of the hood'. This new version has a few worthwhile actors hidden around the fringes (William Hurt, Mark Strong, Danny Huston, and Max von Sydow), but nothing about the footage pops in any way. It just feels like nameless, faceless extras going into battle alongside Russel Crowe against a relatively bland Prince John (Oscar Issac). Ridley Scott is hit or miss for me, and I'll gladly eat crow(e) if this turns out to be closer to
Kingdom of Heaven
than
Hannibal
, but this feels like a director and star both desperate for a hit by making an unofficial sequel to their biggest hit.
Scott Mendelson
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