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My first reaction to the news about Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe's Robin Hood movie was "again?" This new trailer doesn't change anything. I feel as if I've seen it already. What could it bring to the table that's significantly different from the Kevin Costner version? Apart from the grittier cinematography and production design and Crowe's machismo, I mean? It's the same old recipe.

Here's a neat little video taken last summer on the outdoor Robin Hood set, which uses the same clearing (located in Bourne Wood, Tilford -- south of Farnham, Surrey) seen in the opening battle scene at the beginning of Gladiator.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on December 15, 2009 at 6:31 AM

comment #1

Ryansi51 says ...

yeah and the trailer almost feels like its a shot for shot remake

Posted by Ryansi51 at December 15, 2009 6:49 AM

comment #2

LexG says ...

Hey, the first 30 seconds of that trailer are in Ridley's old LEGEND style!

I don't know, I thought it looked awesome, but Ridley's pretty close to my favorite director of all time, even if at times (times like THIS) he could use a little Tony in his direction and not be so lugibrious and... BROWN. Even when there's flashes of Tony in GI Jane, Body of Lies, and Hannibal, he never quite cuts loose and emrbaces the disreputable thrill of pure pulp. Maybe it's the "Sir."

Posted by LexG at December 15, 2009 6:53 AM

comment #3

TulseLuper says ...

Man...I really like Ridley Scott but the similarities to Gladiator here are embarrassing.

Posted by TulseLuper at December 15, 2009 7:05 AM

comment #4

erniesouchak says ...

YAWN

Posted by erniesouchak at December 15, 2009 7:19 AM

comment #5

moviefan says ...

Well, it gave me goosebumps, but then I'm a big epic/Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe fan.

At first I thought we weren't getting anything but atmosphere but then Pow! This is only a teaser and not meant to give too much away, but I thought it looked great.

The only thing good about Costner's movie was Alan Rickman who was OTT cartoonish but a great deal of fun. This will definitely not be like Costner's movie.

Posted by moviefan at December 15, 2009 8:05 AM

comment #6

snoop says ...

I guess I'll reserve judgement sicne the talent level is so high, but this approach bores me.

I'm fascianted by the Robin Hood tale and it's growth through the years (I did a lot of research on it in college), but turning this into a slam-bam action thing just seem so yawn.

I'd have much prefered the idea of the Sheriff being the good guy and Robin being the bad guy, or both being the same guy, or whatever other revisionist stuff that was floating around during the development of this.

Or, if they were going to do this straight up, I'd much prefer something a bit livlier than Scott and Crowe doing Gladiator again--maybe Michael Fassbender bringing some wit, directed by, I don't know, Katherine Bigelow.

Posted by snoop at December 15, 2009 8:06 AM

comment #7

Travis Crabtree says ...

Yeah, but this Robin Hood knows kung fu and uses throwing stars and will waste your pussy ass if you fuck with him, sucka!

Posted by Travis Crabtree at December 15, 2009 8:49 AM

comment #8

C is for cookie says ...

I think the whole "rob the rich to feed the poor" thing will strike a DEFINITE nerve among today's audiences, so I think a new Robin Hood movie is actually pretty timely. Couple that with the fact that this Robin Hood's accent won't fade in and out between high-school theatre British and plain-folks Texan, Ridley Scott's considerable abilities with films set in this period, and what looks like some serious hardcore battle scenes and I think you get a flick that could seriously kick the ass of the Costner version six ways to Sunday.

I think it's got potential.

Posted by C is for cookie at December 15, 2009 9:09 AM

comment #9

Gogocrank says ...

Was Avatar released yet?

Posted by Gogocrank at December 15, 2009 9:33 AM

comment #10

Mark says ...

If this thing looks been-there-done-that today, imagine the mood by the time it comes out, given that everyone will have absorbed the presumably much cooler arrow shooting and battle scenes of Avatar.

It'll be like yawning while Darth Maul pranced around just a few months after the Matrix was released...times 10.

Posted by Mark at December 15, 2009 9:35 AM

comment #11

the sordid sentinel says ...

OK Ridley..time to stop screwing around and get to work on "Brave New World" ASAP. Show these young whipper snappers what REAL sci-fi mastery is all about.

But seriously "Robin Hood" looks better than I imagined. Like others here I am a huge fan of R. Scott and Crowe so that may be clouding my judgement..but so far so good IMO.

Posted by the sordid sentinel at December 15, 2009 9:42 AM

comment #12

Jeffrey Wells says ...

As a friend said many months ago, Maximus Hood.

Posted by Jeffrey Wells at December 15, 2009 9:45 AM

comment #13

thevisceral says ...

Robin Hood: Men in Girdles

Posted by thevisceral at December 15, 2009 9:58 AM

comment #14

Travis Crabtree says ...

No more bloody lupins!

Posted by Travis Crabtree at December 15, 2009 10:01 AM

comment #15

Eloi Manning says ...

A nice fusion of Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. I reckon this could be a right entertaining romp.

The BBC's Robin Hood series is the worst piece of pish I've seen in a long time. That little bitch they have playing Robin Hood looks like he could be taken apart by Maid Marian, let alone the Sheriff of Nottingham.

Ridley should intercut scenes of modern Saturday-night carnage in Nottingham city centre with the medievel battle scenes. Gasp as Russell slices off a bad guy's head, followed by a close-up of a berk in an Old Glory shirt bottling someone at Lloyds' No. 1 bar.

Posted by Eloi Manning at December 15, 2009 10:06 AM

comment #16

Deathtongue_Groupie says ...

Seems Scott didn't quite get the Crusades out of his system last go around. Only that last shot of a death-glare Crowe had visual panache to it.

And they really should have kept the original title, NOTTINGHAM. Throw in subtitle "THE TALE OF ROBIN HOOD" if you are that worried about the Eloi getting confused, but on-the-nose titles signal to me at least that film is going to only be so-so.

Always wondered what became of the fabled footage of Alan Rickman that was supposedly cut from PRINCE OF THIEVES because he was seriously upstaging Costner?

Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie at December 15, 2009 10:21 AM

comment #17

Gogocrank says ...

Considering Costner is owned in that movie by literally all of his costars, I'd hate to imagine how he would have come off with that fabled footage reinstated.

Posted by Gogocrank at December 15, 2009 10:43 AM

comment #18

The Winchester says ...

At least Crowe will get the accent right.

Posted by The Winchester at December 15, 2009 10:49 AM

comment #19

fattyhadaparty says ...

So, all we can hope for is another GLADIATOR or KINGDOM OF HEAVEN.

Damn.

Posted by fattyhadaparty at December 15, 2009 11:13 AM

comment #20

Baltimore says ...

I'm with Jeff and Snoop on this one.

The only interesting angle they foolishly eliminated by dropping the Nottingham draft.

Ridley's way overdone Euro-history epics (yawn) yet he's criminally avoided the sci-fi genre for 25 years despite being its classic master.

He owes us at this point, thus I won't even waste my time on a free screening of Robin.

Posted by Baltimore at December 15, 2009 11:41 AM

comment #21

DeeZee says ...

Quicktime version @ http://www.apple.com/trailers/universal/robinhood/

Mark: You mean a PG-13 close-up camera shot of CG arrows which don't only blow up a couple machines? Yeah, I'm sure that'll be cool...

Travis: Damn, you beat me to it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLkhx0eqK5w

Posted by DeeZee at December 15, 2009 12:00 PM

comment #22

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Where's Eloi Manning to tell us what a "risky" choice this is for Crowe?

C is for cookie might be onto something about the timing of this release, but boy is it hard for me to get fired up about this thing, esp. given the fact that both Scott and Crowe have both been in this narrative territory before multiple times in this decade.

And that's not even getting into how many times this specific story has been told onscreen. My reaction here is similar to someone that asked me what I thought of the Alice in Wonderland trailer -- as much as I like Burton (it's been a hard position to defend this past decade, I know), I've already seen the story before so many times. I'd prefer to see something completely new -- and failing that, at least something new to cinema. So sentinel's post about getting on with shooting BNW had me nodding in agreement.

Besides, isn't it about time for Sir Ridley to return to the s.f. arena? Surprising that after his Alien, Blade Runner, Legend run in the late 70s/early 80s, he never returned to the genre. Kind of shocking, really.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at December 15, 2009 2:24 PM

comment #23

Chicago48 says ...

Russell isn't stretching it....it looks like Gladiator 2.

Posted by Chicago48 at December 15, 2009 4:20 PM

comment #24

JohnCope says ...

What the fuck happened to Monopoly? Maybe that one wasn't timely enough.

Whatever. While it's true that a return to sci-fi for Scott would, on the surface, be a welcome one, he's far different as an artist now to the man who produced those early works. Which is not necessarily to say he's a lesser artist now though I can't say I've been overwhelmingly enthused with the direction his career has taken over the last ten years and the apparent effect his sped up production has had.

The director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven seems the most telling artifact, especially as it's meant to be seen as such a drastic improvement on the severely and unfairly truncated theatrical. And it is a better movie to be sure but the truth is that it's better only because it's more vast in terms of context; this improves the picture's impact by giving it more range, coherent emotional weight and an ability to indicate the larger consistency of Balian's ethic but it's still not a rich or profound experience. It's wide but not deep. That about sums up Scott's aesthetic bearing over the last decade or so.

Posted by JohnCope at December 15, 2009 4:25 PM

comment #25

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Yeah, I'd agree. That's a pretty fair assessment of Scott's aesthetic, but I probably argue that his films have always had more breadth than depth. So I'm not so sure I'd even call it a recent trend, although certainly some of his earlier work -- like Blade Runner -- was at least more successful at hinting at deeper themes and motifs than a film like, say, Gladiator.

Posted by CitizenKanedforChewingGum at December 15, 2009 4:54 PM

comment #26

lipranzer says ...

Scott is one of those directors who gets credit for being an auteur but, quite frankly, is lost without a good script. And to be even more frank, hasn't had a really good script in a while, since GLADIATOR (admittedly, KINGDOM OF HEAVEN might have had one, and was admittedly interesting - being an epic about the Crusades that seemingly deliberately avoided the topic of religion entirely - but I couldn't concentrate on it as well as I should have because Orlando Bloom was so flat in the lead role). Robin Hood is a built in story, and Scott apparently has a consistent point of view (which, as much as Costner's being miscast in the title role, was what hobbled PRINCE OF THIEVES - the filmmakers couldn't decide whether they were being revisionist or being traditional), but will he trust the story this time? I have my doubts.

Posted by lipranzer at December 15, 2009 5:11 PM

comment #27

KRush says ...

Eloi Manning: "shirt bottling someone"? I googled it and found nothing. Great term, give me the definition and I'll use it liberally here in Detroit

Posted by KRush at December 15, 2009 7:35 PM

comment #28

plastiqueelephant says ...

I thought the whole point of this project was that the NOTTINGHAM script turned the legend on it's head and saw it through the eyes of a sympathetic sheriff character?!?!?! Isn't that why they paid megabucks for the spec script?

Posted by plastiqueelephant at December 15, 2009 7:38 PM

comment #29

EdHavens says ...

By the time this gets released, it'll have been nearly twenty years since Costner's take on Robin Hood, so what's the big deal? Warner Brothers made The Maltese Falcon three times in ten years, and it wasn't until the third time around that they finally got it right.

All I needed to want to see this was "Cate Blanchett as Maid Marion." Everything else is secondary.

Posted by EdHavens at December 15, 2009 8:10 PM

comment #30

Luke Y. Thompson says ...

Scott IS returning to sci-fi. Y'all didn't know? He's doing an ALIEN prequel

Be careful what you wish for.

Posted by Luke Y. Thompson at December 15, 2009 9:30 PM

comment #31

Gordon27 says ...

I love Ridley Scott, but I think he's wrong for 'Robin Hood' -- or, at least, what I want out of 'Robin Hood'. If you're going to make RH nowadays, it seems like you should do something different with it. But Ridley Scott is all about atmosphere and aesthetics; it's been a long time since he chose an interesting story to tell. I expect this movie to be entirely straightforward, and the biggest "twist" will be when one of the Merry Men (Will Scarlett, maybe? Never trusted him) turns out to be working for the Sheriff or something. It's going to be a bunch of scenes you've seen before, but in a slightly different context ('Gladiator' but in Sherwood Forest is a good shorthand).

This sounded much better when Crowe was going to play the Sheriff.

Posted by Gordon27 at December 15, 2009 10:09 PM

comment #32

Scott Mendelson says ...

The 'missing' Alan Rickman footage is inserted back into an extended cut of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, which is available on DVD and Blu Ray. As for this new version, I'm betting it gets huzzahs for the very things (darkness, grittiness, violence, etc) that critics attacked Prince of Thieves for back in 1991.

Posted by Scott Mendelson at December 15, 2009 11:05 PM

comment #33

Noah Cross says ...

Makes me want to go back and look at 1938's "The Adventures of Robin Hood". As I recall, it holds up as well as any adventure film of the time. Ridley's film may be more 'complex', but what are the chances of it being as fun?

Posted by Noah Cross at December 16, 2009 2:36 AM

comment #34

Eloi Manning says ...

KRush: "Eloi Manning: "shirt bottling someone"? I googled it and found nothing. Great term, give me the definition and I'll use it liberally here in Detroit"

Sorry, it's just "bottling someone". The "shirt" part refers to the "Old Glory shirt" which is a brand that chavs wear in England. So to reword, someone bottling someone whilst wearing an Old Glory shirt. I guess. Although "shirt bottling" does sound cool.

Kaned: "Where's Eloi Manning to tell us what a "risky" choice this is for Crowe?"

Haha. Why are Clooney's fans so easily upset by the suggestion that he's coasting in his comfort zone? Fine, this Robin Hood film is clearly familiar ground for Crowe and Scott. But that doesn't change anything for Clooney. I like the guy, I really do; I just wish I could see him tackle a variety of more interesting roles while leading-man scripts are still available to him. What's wrong about that?

Posted by Eloi Manning at December 16, 2009 4:12 AM

comment #35

Rich S. says ...

I suspect the reason they jettisoned the misunderstood sheriff angle from the Nottingham script is that it would be very difficult to make the character sympathetic.

"Rob from the rich and give from the poor" is an oversimplification of this story. I guess it works on that level, but the "rich" in the Robin Hood story are actually tax collectors. Prince John uses the pretext of raising a ransom for King Richard to impose crushingly onerous taxes on the Saxon underclass. Of course, he has no intentions of using the money for the ransom, but to consolidate power in Richard's absence. John is aided and abetted in this pursuit by the clergy and the opportunistic Norman land barons.

So not only is the sheriff one of the "rich," he's also a government lackey tax collector. Not much sympathy there.

As far as revisionism goes, I wonder if they'll address the rumor that Richard's imprisonment by Leopold V of Austria was actually related to a lover's spat between the two.

Posted by Rich S. at December 16, 2009 4:39 AM

comment #36

Eloi Manning says ...

I'm glad they're making Maid Marion a widow. It'd have been stretching it a bit to have late-30s Cate Blanchett playing an unmarried maiden in the medieval era, when presumably girls got hitched when they were about 15.

Posted by Eloi Manning at December 16, 2009 4:54 AM

comment #37

chicagodad says ...

Yay- A Robin Hood movie with all that bothersome fun removed.

As for the political statement, Rich S is right it can go either way.

A group of rugged individualists taking up arms against an unjust government of elites would play just fine with the Beckheads and Palinistas

Posted by chicagodad at December 16, 2009 7:29 AM

comment #38

Rich S. says ...

Hey, chicagodad, did you ever see Disney's Christmas Carol? What did you think?

I watched the Reginald Owen version again last night and forgot just how much I dislike it.

Posted by Rich S. at December 16, 2009 10:55 AM

comment #39

Noah Cross says ...

Rich S., just wanted to second your hate for the 1938 Christmas Carol. (Same year as the one great version of Robin Hood.)

Posted by Noah Cross at December 16, 2009 5:15 PM

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