How hard it is to make a really good Robin Hood movie? I mean, I haven't read anything more exciting in my childhood than the adventures of Robin Hood and his band of merry men as they steal money from the rich in Nottingham and give it to the poor. The material in there itself translates to a movie worth a big screen blockbuster. Hollywood, surely, knows it and have attempted to do so quite a few times. And yet when it comes to making a good Robin Hood movie, the industry behaves as if the outlaw has stolen the money from them. Sure, the Kevin Costner-film of the '90s did justice to the tale at least, but the only movie made of this legend that I enjoyed the most was a parody, Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Even Gladiator combo Russel Crowe and Ridley Scott couldn't do much about it when their version came out in 2010. Taron Egerton Thanks Robin Hood Movie for Making Him an Action Star.

And to change not a damn thing about my really low expectations arrives another adaptation, this time with a contemporary touch. Robin Hood, directed by Otto Bathurst (of Black Mirror fame), arrives this Friday. Starring Taron Egerton in the lead, the movie also stars Jamir Foxx, Eve Hewson, Jamie Dornan, F Murray Abraham and Ben Mendelsohn. The cast looks good, with Egerton having proven that he is a fine action star with the Kingsman franchise.

That's not enough though. Aiming to be more action-packed than its predecessors, the new Robin Hood takes out the 'merry' from this adventure of the world's most famous thief.

Robin of Loxley (Taron Egerton) returns home after spending four years in Arabia fighting the Crusades, only to find emptiness greeting him. The Sheriff of Nottingham (Ben Mendelsohn) has taken over his properties, after declaring Robin KIA, while his lover Marian (Eve Hewson) is now betrothed to Will Tillman (Jamie Dornan), who is a politician working for the common class.

Wanting to seek revenge on the Sheriff, Robin is egged by John (Jamie Foxx), a Saudi warrior whose son was killed by the English forces and whose life was saved by Robin, to go for the riches in the county. After getting trained under John, Robin goes straight into stealing the riches and distributing them to the poor using a hooded alter-ego called, uninspiringly, The Hood. Robin Hood Trailer: Jamie Foxx's Little John Mentors Taron Egerton's Famous Outlaw in This Action-Packed Entertainer- Watch Video.

And before you know it, he becomes a beacon of hope for the oppressed. Well, in Nottingham. Not the ones in the theatre.

For Robin Hood the movie is a big, big bore and that's an achievement in itself, considering the storyline was decent, the action choreography used here had worked well in other movies and the cast looks good. And yet, there is a nary a bright spot in the film that uses bleakness to cover itself. Literally.

This is funny, since Robin Hood has adapted a modernist feel to appeal to the younger generation right from the costumes to the dialogues. More than a 15th-century tale, the movie feels like it is set somewhere in a coven in Scotland going by the setting in the 21st century.

Nothing wrong with the idea, as long as the movie should entertain. The late Heath Ledger's A Knight Tale did something similar a few years back and it was decent enough. Robin Hood's jabs at doing so were blunt, to say the least!

The making is clearly inspired by how Guy Ritchie made his vision of King Arthur last year. If that's the case, it was a really bad idea seeing how the other movie ended up at the box office. The influences in the narrative are comprehensibly from Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy, with a dash of V for Vendetta thrown in.

Batman is clearly the inspiration here, but it's Robin (hmmm...)who becomes a vigilante and a symbol of hope for the common class. He also loses a sweetheart to a politician like Wayne loses Rachel Dawes. And the politician in question, Will, has the same nature as Harvey Dent, and funnily enough, nearly ends up having the same fate as him. I kid you not! All the while, Little John assumes two roles at the same time, that of Alfred and Lucius Fox. Even Guy of Gisborne is made to look like some sort of bastard cousin of Liam Neeson's Ra's Al Ghul.

However, in trying to find a balance between going the Nolan way or take the Ritchie path, the makers end up doing justice to neither. Instead, what we are served is a two-hour slog through the grimness, that rarely entertains even with its feeble attempts to make us laugh, most of them courtesy Friar Tuck (Tim Minchin, channelling the spirit of Simon Pegg).

Even the action scenes, though nicely executed from whatever little I could see in that darkness, couldn't expel the boredom. The damp squib of a love triangle between Robin, Marian and Will (I don't recall ever reading such a thing) is only there to validate the final sequel-baiting scene with the U-turn of one of these characters.

Even the performances cannot lift this movie. Taron Egerton is surprisingly charm-less and looks like he is in desperate need of Harry Hart to guide him around. We have to give that Maid Marian is gutsier in the film, but Eve Hewson ends up being more of an eye-candy rather than being someone who matters in the final rebellion. Jamie Dornan is wasted in a thankless role, that has promise in it for a sequel that most probably will never happen. The only two actors who make some sort of impact are the veterans Jamie Foxx and Ben Mendelsohn, though they are stuck in un-memorable characters. Ben Mendelsohn, in fact, is steadily turning out to the Amrish Puri of Hollywood, their go-to guy to play a scenery-chewing baddie who arc never rises above a dimension.

Watch The Trailer of Robin Hood Here -

Yay!

- Action scenes, sort of...

- BG score

- Foxx and Mendelsohn

Nay!

- The rest of the arrows in that dark quiver!

Final Thoughts

There was an idea. An idea to make Robin Hood into a Dark Knight kind of franchise. However, what they got instead was the Suicide Squad of Nottingham. Yup, Hollywood has finally managed to rob Robin Hood both of his magnetism and appeal!

Rating:1.5out of 5

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 22, 2018 08:48 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).