Robin Hood: Extended Director's Cut (2010) DVD, 2010

Russell Crowe may not be Errol Flynn but he is credible and charismatic. Milo Wakelin finds himself stirred, entertained and ever-so-slightly patriotic after enjoying Ridley Scott’s take on the well-known tale.

With Robin Hood, Ridley Scott must have been in a mischievous mood: to open the 2010 Cannes film festival with a movie which depicts the French as villains takes some nerve. But his depiction of Britain as a war-weary, debt-saddled nation in the middle of a transition to a new ruler - who must find some 'creative' ways of reducing the deficit - is also bound to raise eyebrows back home. 

Whilst Scott's Gladiator (2000) was a stirring spectacle of bread and circuses, his take on Robin Hood turns the legend into a political parable for our times with explicit themes of individual liberty and constitutional reform. Like many recent re-imaginings of popular myths (King Arthur, 2004; Troy, 2004; Beowulf, 2007) the film's plot is more complicated and less plausible than that of the original, and it takes too long to tell it. But thanks to an excellent cast, superlative action sequences, and some unexpected narrative twists and turns, Robin Hood is a stirring, entertaining and - dare I say it - patriotic take on the well-known tale. 

Cash-strapped King John (Oscar Isaac) unleashes a bloodthirsty knight, Sir Godfrey (Mark Strong) as a tax-collector. Unbeknownst to the King, Godfrey is an agent of King Phillip II, and his real mission is to sow disunity around the country to soften it up for a French invasion force. 

By chance, an ordinary soldier, Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) uncovers the plot while returning home from the Crusades. In order to secure safe passage home, he impersonates a dead nobleman, Robert of Loxley, and, through a mixture of opportunism and honour, returns to the Nottingham to pay his respects to Loxley's aged father (Max von Sydow) and bluntly self-sufficient widow, Marian (Cate Blanchett). At the suggestion of the former, and to the open dismay of the latter, Robin is persuaded to take Loxley's place on a permanent basis. 

In short, Robin spends the film as in-law, not outlaw, but this prequel ingeniously sets the stage for what is to come, and succeeds in adding depth and intrigue to familiar characters. 

Russell Crowe never attempts to mimic Errol Flynn's insouciant swagger, but he is credible and charismatic as a quick-thinking bowman who finds himself at the vanguard of a civil revolt. Cate Blanchett is an earnest, earthy Marion, and Eileen Atkins and Léa Seydoux impress as King John's overbearing mother and ambitious wife, respectively. 

Ridley Scott always makes this kind of action epic look effortless, and whilst the film's visuals are distinctively his own, scenes of Richard the Lionheart (played by a glorious Danny Huston) visiting his troops on the eve of a battle, and the barrage of archery at the film's climax, have echoes of Olivier's Henry V. 

This ambitious take on the Robin Hood legend may annoy purists (and it certainly could be half an hour shorter), but as a film which attempts to weave a familiar legend into the broader sweep of history, it's right on target.

Milo Wakelin on 26th August 2010
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