I will say right up front that my feelings regarding this movie are torn. While it is an undeniably entertaining movie filled with the sorts of medieval (PG-13) fighting and general uncleanliness you have come to expect from period films of this sort, it's also supposed to be about this Robin Hood fellow that we've seen time and again in other films and on television and so on. We know Robin Hood. We are comfortable with Robin Hood. This movie is about the Robin Hood we don't know. How he became an outlaw and what he is truly fighting for. We get a good look at his strength of character in order to give us an idea of how he'll act in future situations. We see what he's fought for and lost. What we don't see in this film is the man we've all grown to know and like (or dislike) as Robin Hood. This is an origin story and not the common story we've grown comfortable with.This is both good and bad, I think. Obviously if we all know the story of Robin Hood and it's good and solid, there's really no point in telling that story all over again. If you're going to tell the story again, at least bring something new and fresh to the game. I can respect that. At the same time, though, I found myself sort of clawing at the characters and happenings wishing for my fingernails to find purchase on any familiar bits I could find. Other than character names, I was pretty much unsuccessful. The backstories for the characters are all different from what I know. The personalities portrayed are generally different. Well okay, basically Robin Hood is different from what I know. While traditionally, Robin is charismatic and charming, Russell Crowe's Robin is soft-spoken (except when giving speeches) and understated. That's not bad, it's just not familiar. In fact, Robin of Loxley isn't even of Loxley, he's Robin Longstride who takes on the name Loxley as a favor... blah blah blah plot points... it's just odd to me. And after all this effort to be different from the traditional stories of Robin we all know and love, the next movie is going to be forced to tread that well worn earth by virtue of where it falls in the storyline.
Finally, I found there to be a serious technical fault to the film, that the vocal track was mixed far too low to be heard over all the background noise. The spoken dialog seemed very muddy to me. Perhaps just my bad hearing, the friend I saw it with had no trouble understanding it, so perhaps it's just me, but I feel it cut into my ability to enjoy the film fully.
So did I enjoy the movie overall? Yes. Did it feel unnecessarily different from what I am familiar with and possibly contrived in parts to make it different? Yes. Did I have trouble understanding half of what was said? Yes.
