While this looks nowhere near as egregious an error as last year’s King Arthur nightmare, I’m curious as to why Hollywood keeps feeling the need to “reinvent” stories like Robin Hood. The character has been around for hundreds of years, has been interpreted dozens of times, and will be again, but there always seems to a need to rework a story that’s worked just fine: make it gritty and modern, give it attitude, whatever. Those aren’t the things about the story or the character that have made it endure. You CAN update a character and retain those qualities (BBC’s Sherlock did it and managed to produce the best adaptation of Holmes in my lifetime). For more on the latest Robin Hood, read below and look for the Hood in November 2018.
In the film, a war-hardened Crusader and a Moorish commander mount an audacious revolt against the corrupt English crown in a thrilling action-adventure. Packed with gritty battlefield exploits, mind-blowing fight choreography, and a timeless romance, Robin Hood is a never before seen story of how Robin Hood became the icon and legend as we know him today.
The cast for the new Robin Hood includes Taron Egerton (Kingsman: The Secret Service, Eddie the Eagle) as the title hero, with Jamie Foxx (Django Unchained, Ray) as Little John, Jamie Dornan (Fifty Shades of Grey) as Will Scarlet, Eve Hewson (Bridge of Spies) as Maid Marion, Tim Minchin (Californication) as Friar Tuck, and Paul Anderson (Peaky Blinders, The Revenant) as Guy of Gisborne.
Described as having a “gritty tone,” the film finds Robin Hood returning from The Crusades to discover a Sherwood Forest rife with corruption and evil. Teaming with a band of outlaws, he takes matters into his own hands to set things right, with very little merry-making along the way.
Otto Bathurst directs from a screenplay by Joby Harold. Robin Hood is produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Davisson Killoran, Basil Iwanyk, Tory Tunnell and Joby Harold. It will arrive in theaters on November 21, 2018.
I’ve got a baaaaad feeling about this.
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Yeeeeah.
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At least the explosions and the slow motion will distract from the fact the Sheriff of Nottingham is dressed like a businessman from Robocop.
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Ben Mendelssohn apparently now plays all live action villains.
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Yeah he’s not quite at a point where people say things like “Mendelssohn can do a role like this in his sleep,” but he’s getting there. I kind of feel bad for him actually, the only reason that Keven Costner movie is remembered is Alan Rickman’s Sheriff. Well, that and the fact that it was bizarre.
The best thing I can say about this new one is that it’s going to be better than the modern version of Robin Hood the Wachowskis once wanted to make. But it’s going to be much, much less ambitious.
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Freaking just adapt the original tales with the best cast possible. There’s a reason why the character has resonated for centuries.
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The frustrating thing is that with today’s technology, Hollywood would be perfectly justified in simply doing straight up retellings of everything for this generation.
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