Robin Hood
Dir: Ridley Scott
2010
**
It's safe to say Ridley Scott made the 'epic' popular again with 2000's Gladiator (although it was not his first) but as much as he (and others) have tried, nothing made since has been as successful. I seem to be the only person on Earth that didn't think Gladiator was all that and by 2010 I have to say I was personally a little tired of the genre. Ridley Scott's films were getting weaker and weaker by this point and that isn't just my opinion. For all the great films he has made, and he has made some great films, I can't help but look back at the first feature film he ever made, the brilliant The Duellists, which could also be regarded as an epic. It's hard to believe it's the same person that made both films quite honestly. If he had directed Robin Hood with The Duellists in mind maybe it would have been another one of his best but unfortunately, Robin Hood is boring, has a cringe-worthy script and is, at times, laughable. The great Max von Sydow is probably the only reason you should watch but even then it's not worth it. The Sheriff of Nottingham is one of literature and cinema's greatest villains but I'm afraid Matthew Macfadyen did an uninspiring job. I love Mark Addy but his was a cliched Friar Tuck and Russell Crowe could have been any of his previous characters, his performance is fairly forgettable as is the film in general.