Taron Egerton was fantastic as Elton John. Jamie Foxx was great in Django Unchained. Ben Mendelson has had good roles. Eve Hewson is Bono's daughter. None of these facts help this version of Robin Hood. A seemingly endless parade of Robin Hood movies march through history with few stand outs. This one should be avoided, so I am going to fill this review with spoilers.
Robin (Egerton) falls in love with Marian (Hewson), but is soon sent to war by the evil sheriff (Mendelson). Despite being a lord with a manor somehow Robin is a disposable foot soldier. I guess I need to read up on my British monarchy hierarchy. Robin saves John (Foxx) and they eventually team up to rob from the rich and give to the poor. Robin becomes a lord by day and thief by night, getting closer to the sheriff while also stealing from him. The sheriff is in cahoots with the church who are financing the Arabs to defeat the British despite sending soldiers to fight for the British. The town of Nottingham is built on a mine; I think it is a natural gas mine because there are CONSTANT eruptions of fire throughout the town at all hours.
If you are lost by that paragraph, don't feel bad. The movie is scattershot non-sense with skin deep character development. I had no affection for any of the characters and quickly found my mind wandering and my phone in hand.
The movie is filled with fight scenes. The sheriff's men have fully automatic crossbows and Robin has a recoil bow. Somehow these weapons have the power to shoot through stone. The Matrix originated 'bullet-time' and it has been done well in some movies since then. The slowing down of action in Robin Hood is not done well or believably. The choreography also feels forced and camera angles are constantly shifting leaving you lost in the battle. Adding 'modern' action production to a medieval fight did not work out well.
I'm glad I didn't waste my time or money at a theater to see this when it came out. Even free or while stuck on an airplane I still suggest skipping this movie. Go check out Rocketman to see Taron Egerton in a career defining performance.
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