7. Robin Hood (2010)
Robin Hood feels like a movie that came out of a brief, semi-drunk conversation between Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe at an after-party or something: "Wouldn't it... wouldn't it be good, to, like, do another
Gladiator... but we do it with... with Robin Hood this time, you know?" And I suppose that does sound like it might work on paper - in actuality, not so much, because Robin Hood is a character who only really seems to work when you implement a bit of the ol' tongue-in-cheek. Scott's decision to play his version of the Robin Hood story entirely straight falls flat, then. I can imagine, halfway through filming, the talented director sitting down and thinking,
oh man, why did I do this so seriously? His retelling is far too dry to be considered entertaining at almost any point. Watching Scott and Crowe channelling
Gladiator for what is essentially a jolly folk story comes across is invariably ridiculous. It's bloated, and man oh man is it boring. A shame, since a light-hearted telling could've worked magic, akin to Kevin Costner's sort-of campy '90s version.