ROBIN HOOD_seriously?

So I thought I’d throw together one more post before the holidays.   Now, besides my Avatar review, there have been all sorts of things (some cool, some stupid) that I’ve been meaning to write about.  There’s the new Iron Man 2 trailer (cool.)  And then there’s the Bryan Singer X-Men: First Class development (lame.)  But, for today, I’ve decided to dive into a totally unexpected topic, one I thought would be too stupid for me to ever post about: Ridley Scott’s Robin Hood.

Kevin Costner he is not.

News first leaked about this film almost two years ago with the lofty sale of a spec script called Sheriff of Nottingham.  According to the trades, the story followed a more sympathetic Sheriff and, one can only assume, a more antagonistic Robin Hood.  It wasn’t long before Russell Crowe became attached (starring as both the Sherriff of Nottingham and Robin Hood  — though it should be noted that the two characters might have been combined in early drafts) followed soon after by director Ridley Scott.  So, yes, this is the same dynamic duo that brought us Gladiator.  Hurray!  But, seriously people, do you really care to see another interpretation of Robin Hood?  And from what I’ve heard, numerous script rewrites have made this story much more loyal to the Robin Hood tales of the past (Robin Hood =good; Sheriff = bad.)

I, for one, have never been a big fan of Gladiator, nor Russell Crowe, nor Ridley Scott.  But Gladiator was a huge hit.   It made lots of money and it won many awards.  So it’s only natural, a decade later, for everyone to go into hysterics over the artists working together again… and with more gritty violence, no less.

Before I go any further, you should probably watch the trailer:

The typical reaction, from those that I questioned, seems to go like this: “Russell Crowe?  Ridley Scott?  This looks like a sequel to Gladiator?! That would be awesome… wait…. Robin Hood? Are you f*cking serious?” You see, the trailer really does look like a sequel to Gladiator.  It sounds like Gladiator.  It’s shot like Gladiator.  It’s violent like Gladiator.  And, not having a hit in some time, both Crowe and Scott would probably love to make a sequel to Gladiator… if only Maximus hadn’t died.  So, in my opinion, it seems Crowe and Scott did the next best thing… remake Gladiator.  And, hell, Robin Hood’s a character everybody knows… why not make a violent and gritty Robin Hood movie?!

So that’s what we’re getting.  That’s what I see in this trailer… comically so.  Watch the trailer again… does it feel like a SNL parody of Gladiator to anybody else?  Everybody knows the story of Robin Hood. Every decade since the beginning of cinema there have been numerous interpretations of the character.   So, taking such a watered down, over saturated character and throwing him into an ultra-gritty, ultra-violent movie just seems laughable.  It’s like First Blood with Big Bird.

But I could be wrong.  Perhaps Robin Hood will be a display of true originality.  Perhaps this character will be explored in ways nobody thought possible.  I guess we’ll just have to wait and see…

You are entering the territory of Robin Hood and his Merry Men.

And Happy Holidays!!!  -cK