There have been many incarnations of the story of Robin Hood. When I heard that Taron Egerton and Jamie Foxx were starring in a new version of the tale, I was excited to go see it. Unfortunately, my excitement was short-lived.
Robin of Loxley played by Taron Egerton, is quickly introduced to his love Eve Hewson’s Marian as she tries to steal a horse from his stables. After a super quick montage of them falling in love, Robin is drafted by the Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn) to fight in the crusades. Robin finds himself defying his superiors in an attempt to save prisoners from being executed. When he tries to save the life of a young man, he catches the attention of the kids father Yahya, Jamie Foxx. Sentenced with treason, Robin is sent back on a medical transport back to England.
Upon returning, he meets up with old friend, Friar Tuck (Tim Minchin) who informs him that the Sheriff had him declared dead, requisitioned his estate and the love of his life had moved on and is with another man. After a tense reencounter with Yahya “John”, they formulate a plan to steal money from the church to stop funding terror and bringing the war to an end.
The film doesn’t have much going for it. While the action sequences are good, they have a level of cheesiness which makes them pretty much ridiculous, unrealistic and unbelievable. The lack of quality in this film isn’t the fault of the actors, but more so a fault in the script with its lack of depth. I found Ben Mendelsohn convincingly evil as the Sheriff of Nottingham, however I fear that he is being pigeonholed as the same character in each of his films. Taron and Jamie also work well on-screen together. Despite all the above, none of these good performances could save this film.
It is disappointing that Robin Hood failed to hit the mark. It has so much potential to be a great action film. Robin Hood finishes with an open ending which gives room for a possible sequel, but I honestly don’t see that happening any time soon. And if they do, there is plenty of work to be done to improve from this mess. Is Robin Hood worth seeing? Probably not. But if you want to see a cheesy action flick with no depth, this is the one for you.