I had some time to kill the other night, so I sat down and watched the 2018 reimaging of the classic Robin Hood tale. It was a box office failure and was not well received by critics, but I’m going to recommend it because I was entertained.
I had a good time despite the license taken by the writers and directors.
Spoiler alert.
This version has a lot of action. And I liked the characters despite the imposition of left-wing thinking about the crusades and Islam (more on that in a moment).
If any of that is going to bother you then don’t watch it.
If you’ve got a problem with anachronisms, this might be over the top for you.
But if you’d like to spend 114 minutes having some fun, and they actually get some of the archery right in this film, then give it a whirl. We watched it for Free on Tubi. Most of the other options required a streaming rental.
The Good stuff.
Maybe it’s just me but I’m not looking for the next award-winning film. I watch very little television, and I do so to be entertained. I’m a huge fan of the original Pacific Rim. I just had so much fun nothing else really mattered. The Movie Battleship had the same appeal. The acting was not top shelf, but I had fun. This Robin Hood Reminds me of those with better acting.
And no, those are not the only sorts of Movies I watch, but for the purposes of this piece, they – in my mind – sit in the same sphere.
I liked the characters as presented, and I have to admit that the story, while different worked for me.
(The Book ‘Sherwood’ by Parke Godwin is still one of my favorite visions for the Robin Hood mythology (though I have yet to read any other books in the series).
As for this movie, if you can loosen up a bit and can just go with it, it’s a decent action adventure with a lot of action.
The Rough Edges.
The costumes of the Nottingham elite are a bit much. There’s a party scene reminiscent of The Capitol in the Hunger Games Series and that opulent excess is clearly the point. If you can ignore the out-of-place wardrobe, you’ll be fine.
And as with most things coming out of Hollywood that rub shoulders with the Crusades the take is very one-sided. Christain invaders. Senseless killing. Oppressing the locals. It was not pretty but it is more offensive to pretend these are historical facts limited to the Crusaders.
Militant Islam (jihad) has waged war across the earth since its inception. It has conquered and lost vast amounts of territory. It murdered millions and subjugated more. Non-Muslims were treated like dirt. And the Islamists that invaded the “Holy Land” were not indigenous peoples.
There’s no time for any of that in this film. The crusaders are portrayed as evil interlopers, and this injustice drives Robin and ‘John’ – a simplified translation of an Arabic name – to their cause.
The church is evil (of course). It’s so evil that the oppressive “war taxes” the Sherrif collects for the church fund the Arab defeat of English crusaders to topple the King of England and shift power into other hands.
An interesting take and perhaps more than many viewers could stomach, but let’s remember, this is all make-believe. And I’m telling you, it was fun.
I do appreciate good filmmaking, and great acting, and all of that. The effects were decent. The editing was good. It was a mindless few moments strung together, and it made me smile.
If you’re still unsure about Ronin Hood (2018), read a book to pass the time. Or maybe, more GraniteGrok, or don’t. I won’t be offended in the least. If you watch it and hate it I won’t be offended either. But I had a good time and that’s all I was after.
And I got a blog post out of it.