Countdown To Cannes 2010: The Films: ROBIN HOOD

With less than a week to go until this year's 63rd Cannes film festival, the time has come to count down to the May 12th kick off with the ten potentially most important films of the line-up, starting today with Ridley Scott's latest. The opening night showing of 'Robin Hood' may not have got pulses racing the same way that 'Up' did last year, but the enormity of the release should not be downplayed in any way- it is undoubtedly a film worthy of the ceremony on merit and on pedigree.

While director Ridley Scott is responsible for three of the biggest flops in recent memory in the form of 'A Good Year', 'Kingdom of Heaven' and 'Hannibal', his overall track record speaks for itself with behemoths like 'Blade Runner', 'Alien' and 'Gladiator', and his ability to bounce back should mean that this newest addition to the Scott directorial canon soars despite the relative failure (in terms of critical reception at least) of 'Body of Lies'.

One thing is certain- Scott is a firm devotee to the school of detailed film making: despite being terrible, 'Kingdom of Heaven' was as lush a historical epic as could be imagined, and despite its multifarious mistakes 'Gladiator' remains a triumph within the genre. Even outside of the genre, the best of Scott's films are founded on an immaculately conceived and incredibly detailed scenescapes: 'Blade Runner' is still astounding, the scenery work on 'Alien' is phenomenal in its intricacy, and even 'Hannibal' features one of the best-looking scenes from modern cinematic history (the beautiful opera scene). So to have Scott back in a genre that will allow his imagination to run rappantly is a mouth-watering prospect for any fans of visual work out there.

Reasons to be Excited

-How Crowe will present a hugely familiar character; what new dimension he can possibly add and where he will fit in to the already bulging list of actors who have taken on the role.

- The promise of hearing a new aspect of the Robin Hood story- there are a lot of similarities implied in the trailer to the familiar legend, and even one sequence (the exploding gate set-up) that heavily channels the Kevin Costner version, but there is a great deal to be heralded in Scott's choice to focus on a sort of origin tale, rather than just the traditional "rob from the rich to feed the poor" narrative track. And the end of the movie leaves a great deal of scope for Scott to bring the characters back to tell that familiar story if all goes well for 'Robin Hood'.

- The supporting cast: Aside from the excellent Cate Blanchett and Crowe team up, Scott has brought together a great cast, including stalwart William Hurt, Hollywood's villainous favourite Mark Strong, the highly underrated Scott Grimes, a very hairy Danny Huston and the always terrifying Max Von Sydow. The performances I will look forward to most are Oscar Isaac's Prince John, which hopefully will give him more opportunity to impress than 'Agora's' problematic script, and Matthew Macfadyen's Sheriff of Nottingham- specifically how he deals with not being the traditional antithesis of Crowe's Hood, and not being swallowed up in the shadow of Strong's Godfrey.

- Accents: the 1991 Kevin Reynolds' helmed 'Prince of Thieves' may well be fondly remembered (an anomaly probably all down to Alan Rickman's performance) but no film in history has suffered wandering accent syndrome as markedly. Kevin Costner's Robin clearly gives up any attempt at an American accent when he has to emote, and Christian Slater barely offers any pretence. The real question for Scott's version is whether Russell Crowe can really pull off a Black Country accent. The trailer would suggest perhaps not, but the prospect of hearing that infamous growl twisted into a Nottingham drawl is hugely attractive.

Let's just hope that this new take on the Robin Hood story will not miss the target as badly as Antoine Fuqua's Clive Owen lead 'King Arthur' adaptation of 2004, and can convince even the most ardently dedicated Kevin Costner fans that 'Prince of Thieves' can be bettered quite easily. And then finally we can all forget the worst tagline in the history of the world: "For the good of all men, and the love of one woman, he fought to uphold justice by breaking the law".