Yesterday after class, a bunch of us headed into Liverpool with the professors to see the new Robin Hood movie with Russell Crowe. It was supposed to be part of our educational experience about the famous English tale, but I can't help but think it was more of a lesson on how exactly to NOT respect the old stories about Robin Hood. Even from the little I read in class through the ballads about Robin, I got the sense that the people who made this film were not at all concerned about trying to actually tell the story of Robin Hood, just trying to make an entertaining film. Unfortunately, they failed at both.

According to Jocelyn, our Robin Hood expert, about the only things they got right were the fact that Prince John hated Robin, Robin and Marion were lovers, and Robin was an outlaw. The entire movie just seemed ridiculous to me, filled with weird plot devices and bad pacing. Robin and Little John meet by getting into a fight that is stopped when they accidentally hit the King, who is strolling through the men with a hood on for a disguise just to find someone to tell he sucks, basically. Things seemed very random and I kept falling asleep through the first hour and don't really feel like I missed much at all. Even the climactic battle scene is boring and poorly done, to the point of being laughable when Marion charges onto the scene battle-ready leading a group of malnourished twelve-year-olds on miniature ponies. Of course she gets into a fight with the main baddie, and of course she gets hurt, and of course Robin goes to avenge her while she's floating unconcious in the water, and everything ends up all happy and camping in the woods with the twelve-year-olds ensues.

Overall, it was more of a lesson on how not to do Robin Hood, and made me appreciate the real story all the more. The legends and stories are interesting enough that you don't really have to mess with them. They have been entertaining people for hundreds of years, there's a reason everyone knows the story of Robin Hood--because it works. This attempt to bring it to the masses in this movie is an insult to the real stories and I would encourage people not to waste their time with it if they are actually interested in seeing something to do with the real stories of Robin Hood.