The Death of Robin Hood

The Death of Robin Hood was not exaggerated in any way whatsoever.

A very, very grounded and semi-interesting, semi-historical drama about what a real life bandit's life may have been in the 12th century.

The movie got off to an eye-opening start with brutal scenes that had me sitting up straight and ready for a subverted, authentic look at what a real Robin Hood folk hero would be like.

But the movie stretched thin fairly quickly and overly indulged in a depressive beat whether through too-long-shots, overly repetitive beats, and telling vs. showing what ultimately amounts to an old man in a nursing home confessing his war crimes to a masturbating nurse. And we don't even get flashbacks to better contextualize the gray areas.

The movie does genuinely explore some interesting areas of storytelling and history with the consequences of death and breaking free from trauma cycles. And the shots were beautiful.

But the movie didn't seem to tie into a message greater more than "bandit folk heroes may not always be doing good and singing songs, truth is relative and life generally sucks so own it." Which is a good message! And interesting! I was just wanting more when watching it.

That nurse (Jodie Comer) and the Skarsgard nepo were quite good. Hugh had the lion's share of screentime and was a bit one-note with the grit but especially alongside his costumery, be it the overly-Jesus look or the absurd wig, his stuff here just didn't work well for me. It felt like he simply recycled an even more simplified Wolverine mental state vs. something reaching for that gray area.

If you love history and adore Robinhood and want to slowly march through a depressing tale selling glimmers of hope for breaking the cycle, then this one may be for you. So, a good movie for the right mood and perhaps I simply wasn't in the right mood.

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