Robin Hood

It’s like they’ve shot an arrow blindly into the air and hope it will hit something; it doesn’t.

This film is a hot mess of ridiculous historical inaccuracies; tiresome “snappy” dialogue; shallow characters; long, confusing, utterly absurd bow and arrow fights; and a complete lack of plot. It’s hard to recognise the original legend of Robin Hood and its familiar characters in this clumsy updated version with unnecessary, unsuccessful modifications.

Taron Egerton is cute but unconvincing in the lead role. Jamie Foxx does his best with an under-written (Little) John. Eve Hewson as (Maid) Marian gets token sassy lines and occasional badass moves but is mostly relegated to coveted love interest. Ben Mendelsohn’s Sheriff of Nottingham is a fusion of Professor Snape from Harry Potter and a Hollywood typecast Nazi.

It’s visually very dark and the setting has a dystopian ghetto feel. This film could have worked if only…no…it was never going to work.

★ ½

Reviewed by Rita Bratovich