Regarding The Death of Robin Hood (now on HBO Max): Welp, this ain’t Errol Flynn. Or even Russell Crowe.
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this → regard → Max
Pig and A Quiet Place: Day One director Michael Sarnoski’s take on the robbing-from-the-rich-to-give-to-the-poor English folk legend flips the character from hero to outlaw status, with Hugh Jackman playing him as a hunk of beef jerky whose mind has become a teeming nest of pain and regret.
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mind → rob → pain
Which is to say, this is far from an upbeat action movie, but maybe a fresh riff on Mr. Hood will be compelling.
THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
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riff → say → IT
Here we have a clear-cut case of the cycle of violence: Robin Hood (Jackman) has killed people, and the people who loved them want to kill him while seeking revenge, but he kills them first.
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he → have → them
So much for the myth of his virtue, which in this telling is a smokescreen for the fact that he has remorselessly murdered not just men, but women and children, too, for no other reason than because he can.
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he → murder → reason
We meet him as he makes his way across a bitter, windswept landscape that’s just as brutal as he is.
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he → meet → landscape
His body is gnarled and scarred; to say he’s weathered is to say Antarctica is lightly dusted with snow.
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Antarctica → say → snow
After a nasty, nasty, nasty illustration of his capabilities, Robin finds himself reunited with old pal and fellow ruthless slayer Little John (Bill Skarsgård), who’s trapped in his own cycle of violence: His wife and daughter are being held by vengeance-seekers who he and Robin wronged in the past, and he needs help.
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he → find → help
And what follows is a sequence of the most Miserable instances of Miserable Shit you’ll see in a movie all year.
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you → follow → movie
Let’s just sum it up as a gruesomely medieval display of pain and harm.
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’s → let → pain
It’s 1247 AD, after all.
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It → ’ → ?
The fallout finds Robin gravely injured, so John drops him at a priory on an island, where Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer) nurses him back to health, unaware that he’s Robin Hood, the rootin’-tootin’ mean-as-hell son-of-a-bitchin’ cold-blooded killer.
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he → find → bitchin
He passes himself off as a rando named Randolph, and forges tender friendships with Brigid and a head-to-toe bandaged man known only as The Leper (Murray Barlett) — and, crucially, has plenty of time to reflect on his countless malfeasances.
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He → pass → malfeasances
Just when we wonder if he’ll end up in the same space as redemption, to the island arrives Little John’s young daughter Margaret (Faith Delaney), in a state of shock, followed by a young man (Noah Jupe) who just lost an eye — and we know what Robin doesn’t, that this guy’s likely out for revenge.
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guy → wonder → revenge
You can never escape your past, it seems.
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it → escape → past
What Movies Will It Remind You Of?
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It → remind → You
Combine The Northman with Clint Eastwood’s Unforgiven – a major reference point – and you’ve essentially got The Death of Robin Hood.
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you → combine → Hood
Jackman follows an ebullient performance in Song Sung Blue with a very Logan-esque instance of intense, extended brooding.
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Jackman → follow → brooding
It’s not quite a complex performance, but it’s a highly watchable one, and you can’t ding the guy for lacking actorly range.
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you → ’ → range
One non-graphic scene of self-pollution; butt shots of Jackman and Skarsgård as they rub dirt all over themselves in order to mask their male musk prior to a sneak attack.
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they → rub → attack
Not everyone is going to be up for a two-hour mopefest punctuated with instances of unflinching slaughter, and Sarnoski doesn’t have much to add to Unforgiven’s rumination on human cruelty and the pointlessness of violence.
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Sarnoski → go → violence
But Sarnoski’s screenplay feints at narrative convention by delivering Mel Gibson-level sadistic violence early in the film, teasing a reprise, and stubbornly refusing to return for a bloody encore.
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screenplay → feint → encore
It’s not the visceral payoff you may expect; The Death of Robin Hood has something more poetic — relatively speaking — on its mind.
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Death → ’ → mind
Consider our expectations subverted.
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expectations → consider → ?
The film’s gloomy atmosphere, enlivened by Pat Scola’s thoughtfully composed cinematography, makes for an absorbing and contemplative watch.
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atmosphere → enliven → watch
The pacing is slow, but intentional, with an emphasis on Jackman’s furrowed-brow closeups and the beautifully rugged landscape of the island; the peaceful surroundings haven’t calmed Robin as much as they’ve prompted remorseful reflection and subsequent self-loathing.
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they → furrow → reflection
Comer is excellent in a somewhat thankless role, and her quiet moments with Jackman draw out the moral complexities of their unusual friendship.
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moments → draw → friendship
Sure, the film is mournful and bereft with navel-gazing, but it leaves us pondering the limits of forgiveness and redemption, that the human condition entertains no absolutes.
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condition → leave → absolutes
Our Call: The Death of Robin Hood won’t brighten your day, but it may just hold you in its pensive grip.
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it → brighten → grip
Werner Herzog hugged him once.
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Herzog → hug → him
The Aporia
