Monday, December 3, 2018

Monday Movie Mania - Robin Hood

While DH was on his staycation last week, we hit a couple of movies we really wanted to see. I'm going to review Robin Hood first because it may not last in theaters much past this week.

My overall view is it's not as bad as the critics would have you think, but it's not as good as it could have been either.


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SPOILERS!


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PROS
1) Taron Eggerton and Jamie Foxx's sheer charisma and chemistry carry a good chunk of this movie. Unfortunately it's not enough.

2) Some interesting twists in character stories, including a revamp of Morgan Freeman's Azeem from the Costner vehicle Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.

3) Jamie Dornan trying so hard that he's unintentionally hilarious. (And I don't mean in a Alan Rickman chew-the-scenery way either.)


CONS
1) The script's plot needed to tightened. Oh, Cthulu, does it need to be tightened.

2) Even my libtard snowflake tendencies couldn't handle the heavy-handed preaching aimed at modern culture: 1% overreaching, the Catholic Church's child abuse scandals, the treatment of POWs, government treatment of returning vets, etc.

3) Treating the Crusaders as a modern SEAL team.

4) I don't mind them not setting the story during the reign of Richard I of England, but for the love Thoth, don't mix so many incongruous temporal elements together. It just makes a mess.

5) Some chemistry between Robin and Marian would have been nice. Robin sleeping with his Muslim buddy would have made more sense in this flick.


This is one of those movies I had great hopes for. It stumbled, but didn't fall flat on its face the way Star Trek V: The Final Frontier or Happily Never After (the two movies by which I measure all badness) did. Save your money and watch Robin Hood when it hits cable next year.

Overall, I have to give Robin Hood 6 stars out of 10.

6 comments:

  1. This is really disappointing. I love Taron Edgerton, and looking at the trailers, this could've been a fun movie. [sigh]

    Angie

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    1. The potential versus the actual disappointed me, too. With the right script, this could have been a damn fine movie.

      From the trailers, I thought the producers were going for a modernized Errol Flynn-type swashbuckler when they cast Taron and Jamie.

      If you love Taron, he's in the BBC/Netflix miniseries Watership Down which come out this Christmas, and he's been cast as Elton in the ELton John biopic coming out next year.

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    2. Right, I saw a trailer for the Elton John pic. That looks like it could be good. [crossed fingers]

      Angie

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  2. Do you mean Ever After with Drew Barrymore? Or Happily Ever After where Snow White and the Dwarves go off to save the prince? Or do you really mean that weird animated thing?

    Ever After was great! :-)

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    1. Happily N'Ever After (2007, animated). My bad about the name. I had to go look it up. Despite the incredible voice cast, it was soooo bad the audience in our theater was literally rooting for the Evil Queen by the end.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happily_N'Ever_After

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    2. P.S. I LOVE Drew Barrymore's Ever After! It's in my permanent movie collection.

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