Regular OWF readers will already know that I've been sharpening the knives in preparation of Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe attempting to recapture that
'Gladiator' magic wave of ten years ago, but I actually walked out of the 10am Cannes presentation today
suprisingly satisfied that it's his best movie in a while. If not one of the top five in his filmography, it is certainly the vet at
his most energetic for years. A worthwile addition to the
'Hood' mythology, I expected a lot worse, actually fun and intelligent, etc. Very much in the vain of what Chris Nolan did with his reboot of Batman,
'Robin Hood' spends the majority of the time filling in the gaps of how the outlaw came to be, and his mysterious transition from fighting alongside King Richard the Lionheart in the Crusades, into the legend of the archer who robbed from the rich, and gave to the poor that we all grew up with. In fact, Crowe doesn't even become the outlaw until the very end of the movie,
'Robin Hood' ending where every single adaptation in living memory begins. It's a prequel of course, and although you don't need to be a super-sleuth to know where it's headed, I enjoyed the unfamiliar ride Ridley & Russell took me on. It's different and most importanly, it works. It's not quite the Sheriff of Nottingham/Robin Hood doppelganger/Jekyll & Hyde drama that I thought was originally promised but it's an incredibly well put together, first rate, summer crowd pleaser.
The 'Gladiator' crowd will love it, as will the older Joe Popcorn audience who will appreciate a mainstream actioner not aimed, or acted by the Twilight/Shia LaBeouf generation. As I say in the opening, it's Scott at his most energectic in a while. It's shot with excitement and it's decidely vibrant from a renowned filmmaker, and its few set pieces (less than I expected) are leaps and bounds better than Scott's last big battle epic
'Kingdom of Heaven', of which this is a somewhat sequel. Where the Kevin Costner movie of two decades ago spent no more than five minutes focusing on Robin of Loxley's time in the Crusades, Scott's movie spends at least four times longer - and tells us that Robin Longstride was a 'common archer' who opportunistically took the mantle of a fallen richer man as a way to get back to England. From there, it descends into something of an ordinary politically intriguing talk-talk drama and drags a little at the mid-way point but finds it's footing for the final third, and pulls it together with an intelligable ending. All the veteran, over 30 actors were on board for it - no actor in modern memory is quite as rousing in this kind of material than
Russell Crowe. He was as the trailer suggested, much slimmer than his podge belly/fat face in
'State of Play' and he's perfectly fine.
Cate Blanchett is of course above the material, but she doesn't look bored and goes a long with it till the end. , The internet connection is so bad at the Overlook Hotel that I'm going to have post this now and hope for the best. I feel a little like those desperate lost souls crying for help with the Marconie communicator on the sinking Titanic in trying to upload this. I have no idea if this message reached you!