Robin Hood

Overall, I found "Robin Hood" to be a little too drabby, but with its intentions to "keep it real" in the setting of the late 1190's, the look of the film would tend to have a faded out color palette.  It's almost too dreary at times, characters have poor dental hygiene and big smiles at times, and the criss-crossing of character motivations is very bland and one-note, as well as the plot momentum sputtering and eventual climax of the final act not as satisfying as I'd hope for in this genre of movie.  The script just isn't as economical enough.

I'd hope Robin's merry men had a little more to do, the film's midsection sags quite a bit for a film with a 140 minute running time, and it feels all of that amount of time by the end, all in an effort to set the table for the stakes at the end, but it never feels all that involving or entertaining.  Not sure if I bought into the chemistry between Russell and Cate Blanchette as Robin Hood and Maid Marian, and that's a big chunk of "getting it right" when it comes to the Robin Hood stories, I think.

Direction-wise, Ridley Scott seemed much looser in shot selection, relied on the Gladiator-like action footage style for some degree in the battle sequences, but not as a crutch, but the scenes played out as awkwardly as he probably intended, battles were messy.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+.