THE BOY DONE HOOD
ROBIN HOOD (12A) ★★★★★
THE men are far from merry in director Otto Bathurst’s gung-ho action adventure, which canters through the bloodsoaked origins of the folk hero before he gives thought to riding through glens or stealing from the rich.
“Forget what you think you know. This is no bedtime story,” booms a voiceover which accompanies the derring-do in a bygone Nottingham torn apart by the unholy union of state and church.
Action set-pieces are reminiscent of the Assassin’s Creed games, employing slow-motion to excess as leading man Taron Egerton performs bone-crunching somersaults while firing arrows with his trusty bow.
Ben Chandler and David James Kelly’s script allows Egerton to recycle his charm and swagger from the Kingsman films, while Ben Mendelsohn embraces the panto season as a slippery Sheriff of Nottingham.
Tim Minchin tries to provide comic relief as Friar Tuck but there are few opportunities to play for genuine laughs.
The Sheriff of Nottingham (Mendelsohn) issues a draft notice to Lord Robin of Loxley (Egerton) to fight in the Crusades in Arabia.
During four years away from his sweetheart Marian (Eve Hewson), Robin is battle-hardened under Commander Guy Gisbourne (Paul Anderson).
Robin witnesses brutality by the English against enemy prisoners and defies his comrades to protect a Moor called John (Jamie Foxx), whose son is tortured. Robin returns to Nottingham in disgrace and learns that the Sheriff has falsely reported his death and seized his assets. A grief-stricken Marian is now in the arms of impassioned community leader Will Tillman (Jamie Dornan), who speaks for the common folk in disputes against the Sheriff.
Heartbroken and enraged by the hand that fate has dealt him, Robin trains with John to overthrow the Sheriff, whose war taxes have impacted the poorest in society.
Robin Hood is a solid and well-executed romp, which is clearly intended as the opening chapter of a franchise.
Egerton copes admirably with the physical demands of the lead role and he catalyses a gently simmering screen chemistry with Hewson.
Unlike its dashing hero, Bathurst’s film doesn’t hit all of its intended targets but it comes close enough to entertain for almost two hours.