'Robin Hood'

Release Date: May 14
Starring: Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett

“Robin Hood” is Ridley Scott’s new project starring Russell Crowe as Robin and Cate Blanchett as Maid Marian. Scott and Crowe have touted this as the Robin Hood movie, the definitive vision.

This movie was originally titled “Nottingham” with Crowe playing a more likable Sheriff who competes with Hood for the love of Marian. This fresh and more interesting story was abandoned in favor of making the eighth Robin Hood movie.

Apparently, the vision for this movie was “Gladiator” meets “Braveheart.” In this modern version of the story, everything must be “grim and gritty” and “realistic” even though the Robin Hood story as we know it is mostly the story of Ivanhoe, stolen whole-cloth and re-written to make Robin the main character.

And we can’t be too realistic, can we? We can’t have Maid Marian be a damsel in distress; she’ll have to be a sassy, strong character who fights as much as the men do. (And honestly, at 41 years old, Blanchett is more like Old Maid Marian. Crowe is 45, amusing because King Richard himself died at age 42.)

The story is done to death; the style is just as familiar. For all the hype surrounding this film, I just can’t help but feel like I’ve seen it all before. They’re not bringing anything new to the table. I could be pleasantly surprised, but if there’s one word you can use to describe a Robin Hood movie, it’s predictable.

HYPE: 9
EXPECTED QUALITY: 6.5