The Death of Robin Hood review – Hugh Jackman darkens a heroic tale in grim drama
A conceptually intriguing film that turns the outlaw hero into a selfish criminal struggles to find its footing despite some fantastic craftwork Spoiler: Robin Hood
A conceptually intriguing film that turns the outlaw hero into a selfish criminal struggles to find its footing despite some fantastic craftwork Spoiler: Robin Hood is going to die. In bluntly titled drama The Death of Robin Hood, that might be exactly what one is programmed to expect but, in this often intriguing revisionist tale, it’s what he leaves behind that might be more of a shock.
With the gap between the ultra-rich and the rest of us continuing to expand at a riot-inducing pace (we now have our first trillionaire congrats!), it’d be tempting to use a folk hero of the past as a rousing symbol of what many of us would like to see in the present. But in writer-director Michael Sarnoski’s darker, grubbier take, Robin Hood takes from anyone and keeps it for himself, despite what the legend might say.
In fact, as played by a dour Hugh Jackman, he’s plagued by stories told by fireside, painting him as someone to be heralded, and it’s only those whose lives he’s touched that know the truth, if they were lucky enough to survive. He’s then an outlaw running not just from the authorities, but from the aggrieved fathers and brothers who want to avenge what he ripped away from them.
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