A different sort of Robin under the Hood
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves could be considered the beginning of the end for Kevin Costner’s career. Coming out of the ranks of Field of Dreams and Bull Durham, there was a lot of push behind Costner as a star in Hollywood. No doubt he achieved this, but quickly as Hollywood giveth, Hollywood taketh.
This movie had all the elements, especially on the acting side, to make it work. You had the following actors involved (some were very popular at the time):
– Kevin Costner
– Morgan Freeman
– Christian Slater
– Alan Rickman
Those four actors alone brought in a TON of Hollywood money five years prior to this film. Now, with all that information in mind, here’s where a few things went bust. Handling multiple egos, not to say anyone had an ego, but juggling onscreen time for these popular personalities seemed like a forced challenge. Slater, who was huge at this point in his career, was given a smaller part yet advertised as a major role-player. His fans came in thinking that he could play a significant role, ended up disappointed, which probably segmented that fanbase out. Morgan Freeman, who was coming off of playing one of the best roles of his career in Driving Miss Daisy did a fine job as Azeem, but looked incredibly restricted in comparison to Costner’s Robin Hood. As for Costner, you know about his accent, but he took on a role that just didn’t seem to fit him quite right. It seemed odd, much like putting Gallagher (the guy who smashes watermelons) in a serious role, it would be an oddity because that’s not what Costner was born for. Finally, Rickman…. well…. his hair bothered me. I know that’s petty, but he just didn’t seem threatening with a large set of hair that resembled something Axel Rose would have sported during the Appetite for Destruction tour.
With all these mismatches, they were placed inside of a story that couldn’t afford mismatches. So, the entire time you’re not really following the movie, you’re thinking about how odd the actors were. Now, ignoring that, you’ve got yourself a decent film underneath it all. It isn’t as bad as most people made it out to be, in fact it’s probably one of the more accurate tellings of that character. It’s an adventure from rich boy to slave to poverty to hero. You can’t beat that formula. The movie followed a more violent route than the previous incantations of the film. I think that the Sheriff was a bit too oversexed for my liking. When he wasn’t trying to threaten people with a spoon he was trying to ‘get with’ as many commoners as possible. Every time you see poor Rickman he’s talking about sex, wanting sex, doing something pertaining to sex. It was a slight overkill. That guy had some serious gland issues if he was merely a mixture of violence and sex. Other than that, the story itself was told well and it was beautiful. The love affair between Robin and Marian seemed really genuine and special. Many hours of a music video was made out of their love and played over and over again on the radio and MTV. Nonetheless, it was powerful in a giant story like this. As for the other part of the story, the ‘steal-from-the-poor-to-give-to-the-rich’ was really well done. Much like an 80s montage in a film, it was joyous to see different ways that Robin Hood and his men could punch the old Sheriff right where it hurt (when that place was available of course).
So what makes this version of the movie special? Well, the original was incredibly long and the extended version is even longer. You get more than 10+ minutes added to the film (which is a lifetime of onscreen time) that actually makes some of the parts of the story a bit more improved. The downer is that the film is now even longer. In 1991, outside of The Two Jakes and The Godfather Part III, this was certainly a long film for people’s attention. And while it’s nice to patch up some holes in the story (I won’t tell you where, you’ll see), it still is a bit painful to watch the actors for an even longer amount of time.
I think that if WB ever wanted to remake this story again, they should hire unknowns to do so. If Heath Ledger were alive today (God rest his soul) he would have made the perfect Robin Hood. Hopefully this option is explored in the near future (not Ledger, but the remake) because this story is still pretty darn solid and just needs a bit more polish to make it shine once again.
As Blu as the Sheriff’s…. sword hilt
The film was shot in some very beautiful locales and they really come to life on Blu-ray. Honestly speaking, the wooded areas, the castles and even the nasty shore that Costner’s Robin kisses, they all shine in HD. The colorful detail makes it extraordinary eye-candy for the viewer and only gives more purpose for the Blu-ray owner to pat themselves on the back and tell their DVD neighbor in the other house that they don’t know what they’re missing. The action scenes really do benefit from the audio and you get plenty of action in this film (no, not with the Sheriff…. completely). Excellent sound effects, sword fights and music are remastered beautifully for a TrueHD experience.
As for features, here’s what you’re getting:
– Commentary by Costner and Reynolds
– Commentary by Freeman, Slater and producers/screenwriters Pen Densham and John Watson
– Robin Hood: Man, Myth, Legend TV Special
– Vintage Interviews
– Bryan Adams Live at Ireland’s Slane Castle Performing (Everything I Do)
– Music-Only Audio Track
– Theatrical Trailers/TV Spots
For a movie that is nearly 20 years old, this isn’t a bad set of features. The commentary alone is worth the price of admission (both commentaries). They both provide some excellent insight to what the actors/filmmakers had intended and what went right/wrong. As for the television special, it’s pretty good. If you don’t know much about Robin Hood it’s a perfect place to gather some information. As for the rest…. only if you’re interested.