We have all heard of the legend of Robin Hood. The man in the green tights with the bow and arrow, riding around Sherwood Forest with his band of merry men. Robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. His one true love Maid Marian and his rivalry with the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham. Well, it’s all bullshit!
The real Robin (Hugh Jackman) is a bloodthirsty murderous criminal and bandit. His “merry men” are no more, each of them falling to the sword or rightfully executed for their horrendous crimes. The only one who yet remains alive is Little John (Bill Skarsgård), someone whose attempts to live a normal life in the wake of such carnage has recently been taken away from him. In his attempt to steal back a peaceful life he doesn’t deserve, he approaches the now aged Robin, living as a hermit in the mountains.
The job seems simple enough, a distraction from the never-ending series of vendettas and blood feuds which make up Robin‘s existence. However, the best laid plans end with Robin bleeding out mortally wounded. He is delivered to an isolated convent led by Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer), a woman who has dedicated her life to healing. Robin‘s body may be on the mend but is redemption at all possible for a man with as dark a past as his?
Writer-director Michael Sarnoski, the man who combined Nick Cage, truffle hunting and underground kitchen fight clubs in ‘Pig’ (2021), brings us another unconventional action film. A reinvention of a legendary folk hero, presenting him in a way which we’ve never seen him before. Yet still, somehow one which in all its grit, feels completely authentic.
I can’t tell you how long I’ve been waiting for an “evil Robin Hood” movie! While I absolutely adore the adventurous swashbuckling heroic stories we’ve had in the past, it’s a subversion not done to death like “evil Superman” has. In fact, famously the 2010 Russell Crowe starring Robin Hood film initially began as such a twist on the tale called “Nottingham”, before Ridley Scott got his hands on the script and the rest is mediocre history.
The Death of Robin Hood makes up for this in many ways with a story, which isn’t so much a retelling. but a recontextualising of the Robin Hood mythos. The stories exist in this universe, but here they’re all whitewashed PR pieces. Stories told time and time again, which have painted Robin as a philanthropist because it makes for a better yarn. The truth is dark, ugly and violent. VERY violent!
The film feels much like it is told in two halves, with the first being an extremely gory vision of the savage life of a bandit outlaw. All these people pray to the same God yet there is no compassion to any of them. It is simply revenge, revenge, revenge. Death, torture, the freezing cold of the mountains, all of it is masterfully shot by cinematographer Pat Scola to appear as inhospitable as possible.
The Death of Robin Hood’s latter half, as Robin is whisked away to possible salvation at a convent on historically sacred and powerful earth, really is completely different. Beauty, innocence and warmth come into the film and it feels as much as a relief to us as it should to the wounded Robin. Yet, as a man who has at this point has accepted he deserves a violent end, salvation seems completely impossible, making for a complex introspective voyage for the not so heroic legend.
However, there are some elements of the film audiences may shy away from, besides the confronting amount of gore, the action is VERY front loaded. That whole second half of the film I mentioned is without any of the frenzied combat, which makes the first so brutal. There is still nail-biting tension to be found, such as it is, I didn’t even realise the lack of action myself until reflecting on it afterwards. Yet, The Death of Robin Hood is more of a slow burn and perhaps not what someone may want in what is still an atypical action film.
This film scratched that itch I’ve had since Ridley Scott thought he knew better 16 years ago. Fans of Sarnoski’s ‘Pig’ should find themselves in for quite a treat. Hugh Jackman plays the burned-out grizzled rogue as well as he ever has, and there’s definitely parallels to be found with ‘Logan’ (2017). The Death of Robin Hood is an interesting reimagining of the outlaw which differs from the more cliché renditions. If nothing else, it’s still better than the Jamie Foxx version!
The Death of Robin Hood is in cinemas from June 18th.