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HOLLYWOOD (AP) – In the opening moments of Michael Sarnoski\u2019s \u201cThe Death of Robin Hood,\u201d Hugh Jackman\u2019s Robin shelters on a cold and desolate peatland. A young attacker (Jade Croot) emerges from the dark emptiness beyond his campfire. He grabs her, tells her it was a mistake to bathe. He could smell her downwind. Then he puts a knife through her skull.<\/p>\n
Oo-de-lally, oo-de-lally, golly what a day.<\/p>\n
Whichever version of Robin Hood is your favorite \u2014 three cheers for the 1973 animated Disney one \u2014 the story takes a beating in \u201cThe Death of Robin Hood.\u201d There are no knights in shining armor. There are no merry men. There is absolutely no swashbuckling.<\/p>\n
Sarnoski, the director of the excellent Nicolas Cage thriller \u201cPig\u201d and sci-fi sequel \u201cA Quiet Place: Day One,\u201d has sapped every bit of derring-do from the folk hero. It\u2019s a thoughtful inversion of myth with some compelling ideas about the nature of storytelling. But it\u2019s a total slog.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Death of Robin Hood\u201d drains the blood, and life, out of an old English legend. So forget about robbing from the rich and stealing from the poor. This Robin is a grizzled marauder who can\u2019t even remember how many people he\u2019s killed. We are, to say the least, very, very far from men in tights.<\/p>\n
This is to a purpose in Sarnoski\u2019s film, which, like Robert Eggers\u2019 \u201cThe Northman\u201d and David Lowery\u2019s \u201cThe Green Knight,\u201d brings a primal realism to an old legend. As much as we might think of Errol Flynn or Kevin Costner, the origins of the story of Robin Hood weren\u2019t so cheery.<\/p>\n
Robin Hood began as an oral tale dating back to the 12th century. A few hundred years later, the first written accounts were ballads. Sarnoski\u2019s film takes its title from one of those ballads, in which Robin Hood \u2014 long before there was any Maid Marian to speak of \u2014 was a mere yeoman. Only as the centuries wore on did Robin Hood gradually accrue the trappings of Sir Robin of Locksley.<\/p>\n
There might have been a compelling movie to be made from those early, fragmented origins. But \u201cThe Death of Robin Hood\u201d instead expends too much of its energy rubbing our face in the muck. Mud cakes the movie\u2019s first half, which so strenuously insists on its revisionist approach that it quickly turns tiresome.<\/p>\n
Jackman \u2014 weathered and bearded \u2014 looks amazing, like a medieval Santa Claus. And so does the movie, shot across rugged, wind-swept Northern Ireland vistas by cinematographer Patrick Scola. Robin, himself, appears weighed down by the mythology around him. He doesn\u2019t use the name and calls the rumors about him \u201clies upon lies.\u201d But others are buoyed by it.<\/p>\n
Little John (Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd) is no great friend but a reluctant companion for Robin. He listens to Little John talk up a new scheme as \u201ca good adventure\u201d shortly before Little John beats a man to death for bread. The battle that follows \u2014 a muddy and mean scrum \u2014 is even more ghastly, partly for its utter pointlessness.<\/p>\n
This great disparity between reality and story, truth and history, takes on new dimensions when Robin clandestinely takes refuge at an island priory where Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer) tends to his wounds. He is sheltering Little John\u2019s daughter, Margaret (Faith Delaney), but their secret past is quietly threatened with the arrival of a young man (Noah Jupe) whose maimed, bandaged face evidences a recent run-in with Robin and Little John.<\/p>\n
Robin\u2019s coldness and cruelty begins to melt away thanks to Sister Brigid and the peaceful life he finds there. If story had previously been a yoke around his neck, Robin realizes another purpose when he considers Margaret\u2019s future.<\/p>\n
In a way, \u201cThe Death of Robin Hood\u201d is an appropriately contemporary version of a much-retold story, suited to a time when lies and denial of history rule the day. But the oppressive dourness and forced cynicism of the film suffocate the characters in a way that feels no more realistic than Mel Brooks\u2019 1993 parody. The result, while admirably considered, is almost comically misjudged \u2014 like insisting Paddington the bear sits on a throne of lies. In the end, \u201cThe Death of Robin Hood\u201d ironically supports an old movie axiom: Print the legend.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Death of Robin Hood,\u201d an A24 release in theaters Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for strong bloody violence. Run time: 123 minutes. Two stars out of four.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
HOLLYWOOD (AP) – In the opening moments of Michael Sarnoski\u2019s \u201cThe Death of Robin Hood,\u201d Hugh Jackman\u2019s Robin shelters on a cold and desolate peatland. A young attacker (Jade Croot) emerges from the dark emptiness beyond his campfire. He grabs her, tells her it was a mistake to bathe. He could smell her downwind. Then … Continue reading Movie Review: \u2018The Death of Robin Hood\u2019 drains the blood, and life, out of an old English legend<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":1516274,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1451],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1516273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-entertainment-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-06-19 15:16:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[0],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1516273"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516273\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1516275,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1516273\/revisions\/1516275"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1516274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1516273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1516273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1516273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}