UrbanRhetoric

UrbanRhetoric

5.22.2010

Robin Hood....by IMTHATDUDE [review]


Robin Hood
by IMTHATDUDE

This will be quick, unlike the movie.  I know there’s at least one woman reading this right now with jokes.  To you, I say… Whatever.  I was tired and it was a tough week.

Robin Hood, otherwise known as the next installment in the Russell Crowe/Ridley Scott series (previous collabos include Gladiator, American Gangster and Body of Lies).  This version of the Robin Hood legend is written by Brian Helgeland (Man on Fire, Mystic River), so you should expect you would be wise to expect a little less merriment from Robin Hood’s men. 

Max von Sydow (Minority Report, Shutter Island) who will forever be Ming the Merciless from Flash Gordon, - what an awesome crappy movie.  I suggest you rent it.  Pure comedy.  Von Sydow is Sir Walter Loxley, Robin Loxley’s padre.

 Cate Blanchett (The Curious Case of Benjamin Buttons, Notes on a Scandel) is Marion Loxley

Oscar Isaac (Che: Part One, Body of Lies) is the young upstart, Prince John.

Mark Strong (RocknRolla, Sherlock Holmes) is Godfrey – Prince John’s trusted friend

Eileen Atkins (Gosford Park, Last Chance Harvey) Eleanor of Acquitaine

William Hurt (Syriana, A History of Violence) plays William Marshall (think Colin Powell, the advisor who served more than one administration)

Danny Huston (30 Days of Night, Clash of the Titans) is King Richard

IF YOU MUST KNOW

Do you really need to know this?  He robs the rich and gives to the poor, falls in love with Marion in England back in ye olden dey, etc., etc.  A noble knight/archer in the king’s army who comes home from fighting for England and King Richard the Lion Heart, a cat with some serious over-compensation issues, should you decided to read up on him.  Or you could skip the labor of reading and watch one of the best movies I’ve seen in decades – The Lion in Winter (the original one with Katherine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole – yes, I laugh when I say that name, but he’s an awesome actor.)

Really, it’s Robin Hood, not The Death of Ivan Ilyich.”

Just be advised that this is an appreciably different take on the Robin Hood legend, but I don’t think it deviates so significantly that you don’t get the drift.  If I told you more, I’d be telling you the movie and you know I wouldn’t do that to you.

Good News: No Kevin Costner (although, I guess Auzzie accents officially pass for Brittish ones, now…?) no men in tights, no feather in his cap, and they incorporated some of the real proven historical aspects of this whole drama into the movie.

Bad News:  You can’t help but notice how much time you’re sitting there watching this movie.  That is never a good thing.  Run time: about 2:15/2:20.

The war/fight scenes were cool, but this is Ridley Scott so it’d be safe to assume that the guy who made Gladiator would produce some good battle scenes.  The dialogue was goodnice mixture of humor and wit, but something was missing.  So what was it?  The French call it a certain “I don’t know what.”(he says in his best Brooklyn-French accent… which, as it turns out, sounds a bit Hatian.  Go figure.)

Recommendation – go see it, why not.  It’s not like Iron Man 2’s any better.  I guess we’ll have to wait a while longer for the first DOPE summer movie; it’s only fair, since it’s not summer yet although you can’t tell that to the blancita that just walked by me in this coffeeshop – not that there’s anything wrong with that.

That Dude Gives this flick: 3

RATING SYSTEM:

1. Curses.  I got GOT! 
2. Couldn’t be more under-whelmed./I gave them my hard earned cash for this clunker?
3. Not too shabby, I won’t ask for my money back.
4. Pretty, pretty, pretty, pretty good./Worth the 12 bucks.
5. Why are you reading this and not seeing this movie? Jackass.

1 comment:

  1. Eh, I worked for RS and still have no desire to see this movie. Boring.

    ReplyDelete

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