First Look At Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood

Blah, this movie's going to be boring. It sounded interesting when Robin Hood was the villain... But now it's just, blah...

Yeah, what happened to Robin Hood being the villain! To quote the Joker, What happened, did their balls drop off?

Together, Crowe and Scott will make this the Robin Hood to remember. Crowe's ability to literally transform into his character is unmatched and no one directs this kind of historical spectacle like Ridley Scott.

Yeah the first thing I noticed was the Gladiator look and honestly, I don't mind it as Gladiator is one of my very favorite films.

It is a shame that it is the same old Robin Hood done time and time again however. But regardless, it IS Crowe and Scott doing a period piece and that means it will be good nonetheless.

I gotta agree with Ken. This sounded a LOT more interesting when Robin Hood was the bad guy. A whole different take on a character who has been done to death. I hope that this is a good movie, but really, how good can a movie that has been done repeatedly be?

I can't believe how negative people are towards a movie directed by Ridley Scott starring Russel Crowe among other great actors. It's just really saddening.

I think the movie will still be good, but it sounded incredible when it was about the Sheriff being the hero and Robin Hood being the villain.

Reading Scott's explanation of why the story and title were changed, it felt depressing. It seems that he was so uninterested in making something new and different and that this would be some generic Hood film just using the big names to sell :( That's probably untrue and unfair, but you can read what he said in Niall's article:

http://screenrant.com/ridley-scott-nottingham-r...

I hate to say it, but I don't think Crowe looks good in that picture.

The classic Robin Hood story is a classic story for a reason.
Russel as both Robin and the Sheriff and a bad guy
as well is not the legend of Robin Hood.
That idea is not workable.

This film may play closer to the classic story than
any previous incarnation of Robin Hood has which can
make this version the first Robin Hood on film, not the last.

Russel Crowe is the finest actor ever to play Robin.
Russel looks fantastic in the pic and I suspect he
will take this role to places no one expects.

Russell, not Russel.
Of course.

This will own!!! You monkies don't you realize they are making Gladiator II only as Robinhood??? Glazer dropped the hints there himself and Scott and Crowe both need hits after the garbage Body of Lies and underperfoming American Gangster!!

This is going for the Box Office Throat seasonal Biggie!!

You watch as this get's closer they will tease us with scenes of Robin fighting in the Crusades slaughtering Saracens!! Just like Gladiator!!!

This will be huge!!!! Think Maximus in leather breaches and chain mail!!!

All will all be telling you I told you so very soon!!!!

Like I read on someone else's comment-I dont care-he can do Sound of Music, Ill go and see it.Dirty Delicious Russell..

State of Play didn't have a huge opening either but it was awesome.

I thought Body of Lies was an awesome flick too, American Gangster was just alright for me.

Finally a Robin Hood that actually looks POWERFULL.

Crowe looks like the fearsome medieval guerilla fighter that i always imagined hood to be...

Lets face it guys...you wouln't want to meet this "Hood" ina dark Sherwood forest...

Having Robin Hood be a villain makes about as much sense as having King Arthur or Davy Crockett be a villain. Some legends are fine just the way they are. Crowe looks fantastic. I want those boots when this film is done! ;)

Personally i've always pictured robin hood lightweight, quick, cunning, charming, wordsman thats cutthroat when he has to be. But its crowe... So this movie is going to rock. Plus i actually met him once and he was very cool and funny too. Didn't throw a phone at me or anything...

@nomad, how can you say that having him as a villain doesn't make sense? He ROBS people. He's a CROOK, and most likely a murderer too because not everyone will let go of their belongings without a fight.

I don't quite know what to say to you, Ken. If you know the legend of Robin Hood, why he did what he did and to whom he did it, and STILL don't see why he's a good guy, then I fear it's beyond me to explain it to you. The best I can do for you is to say is that we cheer when bad things happen to bad people every bit as much (or more) than we cheer when good things happen to good people. What we don't like is when good things happen to bad people or the other way around. Robin Hood is a good guy because he makes sure the bad things happen to the bad people and not to the good ones. Some call that justice. It's as simple as that.

@ Nomad,

I think Ken is saying it makes sense to make a story where Robin Hood is the villain as it would be original and something different (and very interesting)

I don't think he's saying Robin Hood was the evil villain.

Not saying he's evil, but if you look at the story of Robin Hood, like you suggest, he's stealing from the "rich" to give to the poor. Now, is every person who is "rich" evil? You can't expect someone who might have been born into a wealthy family or someone who was resourceful enough to get successful to throw it all away just so it's not "unfair" to the poor people do you?

My point also is that he can't "just" be a thief. A lot of people will not give up their belongings without a fight. And he can't simply threaten people, then give up when they call his bluff, then everyone will know he's bluffing. So in order for a story like that to really happen, he HAD to had killed some of the people he robbed. So that makes him a murderer. Yah, the Sheriff might be portrayed as "evil" in the stories, but I don't buy into the whole socialist idea that every rich individual you meet are "evil." So he would have stole from and killed many innocent people in my opinion if such a person would really exist.

Of course most of the Robin Hood iterations were pretty romanticized and he can swoop down and just threaten everyone and they will give up the loot without a fight, or they will put up a measly fight where he can disarm them without harming them, etc. etc. But you know that's pretty much BS.

I would have been interested in a Robin Hood movie where he is portrayed as the villain that THOUGHT he was doing something good, but in fact was really just narcissistic and liked to be looked upon by the poor as their hero. That would have been 100x more interesting than yet another Robin Hood good, rich people evil, movie...

The spam filter is no friend of mine... I wonder what my message had in it this time that got it flagged...

@Ken J

Grabbed your comment from the spam filter - don't know why it flagged it.

@Nomad

I agree with Rob - the point is it would have been a very small leap and an original take on the story to make Robin Hood the bad guy. As Ken said, he IS stealing from people, even if those people are corrupt.

I'm not passing judgment either way, just saying it would be an interesting take. But of course considering the state of things today, I'm sure that idea would go over like a lead balloon and a new traditional Robin Hood movie will strike a chord with folks who are fans of redistribution of income. (I probably shouldn't have just tossed in that last bit, methinks.)

Vic

AHAHAHAHA@ Vic! I almost used that exact phrase! Yeah, you could make Robin Hood the bad guy, but then it would be a DIFFERENT story. What's so great about the Robin Hood legend, and why it has lived SO LONG in western culture is because the theme is timeless. There will always be powerful, unscrupulous people who will take advantage of the system, whatever that system is, for their own profit at the expense of the little guy. If you want to get all post-modern about it, think of Bernie Madoff as the Sheriff of Nottingham and of Robin Hood as the saviour we only WISH we had!

@Ken J

I'm sorry dude but im getting pretty annoyed with your right wing political views creeping through in your posts.

I myself am a left winger but i try my best to see both sides of the coin. In your last post you say that you dont think of Robin Hood as a villain, but then conclude that he probably was. Reading between the lines seems to suggest that you do not like this type of character at all...

What you need to understand is that rich people in medieval times were a far nastier lot than today's. That's because you were more likely to be born into wealth in the medieval times than aquire it through hard work or as you put it 'resourcefulness'.
So yes i suppose you could say that a Robin Hood in our modern day society would probably be a very morally grey man. With good natured wealthy poeple like Bill Gates, Alan Sugar etc we would hate to see these poeple be humiliated or killed. However the context changes everything. Therefore a medieval Robin Hood is a more honourable person because he is fighting against oppression.

Besides all this why do you seem to paint Robin Hood as a merciless figure who's to say Robin Hood couldn't show a bit of mercy...

Anyway dude i hope you dont take this personally because your a cool guy and i honestly like most of your views. : ) But that was just my two "pennys" lol

I'm very glad that they've decided to take a more "traditional" approach to the movie. If Robin is the bad guy - then it's not really about Robin Hood is it? If they changed it that much - it should be an entirely different movie with different characters... It'll be interesting to see their take on the legend while still keeping to the SPIRIT of the legend.. Now, I'm very excited to see this movie..

@ Jim

You're right, the original idea was to focus on the Sheriff on Nottingham who would of been played by Crowe and the movie's title was going to be "Nottingham"

Although, it would of been the same characters, just from the perspective and focus of the other side - a pretty cool idea I think.

Rob - I think the idea of the Sheriff not being necessarily a "bad" guy is ok.. in fact a very good book by Parke Godwin entitled "Sherwood" explores this idea. The Sheriff is portrayed as a knight of William the Conquer who is granted the title and position of the Sheriff of Nottingham.. He wants peace and he wants what the English (such as Robin) has. He just thinks it's his right to take what he wants... Robin is also a good person - the hero of the story in a more traditional sense.. For me casting Robin as the heavy is really the thing that would ruin the movie for me...

Riva, the fault of your logic lies in your categorizing of people. You can't say that the "rich" people were "bad" while the "poor" people are not. Sure some of the rich people must have done some corrupt things to get where they got, but what about the people born into the money like you mentioned. Just because they didn't technically "earn" the money they have, are they "bad" people that deserve to have the money taken away from them by force?

And even their parents, you can't say that ALL of the people got rich because they did corrupt things. Even among a corrupt system there would be plenty of people who earned their money the hard way and maybe through smart money management built their name up to a respectable level. Do these people "deserve" to be robbed just because they happen to be richer than most people?

And regardless of if they are corrupt or not, my point of Robing Hood having to have killed some people in order for his threats to be effective is a valid argument, so are you saying that those who saw the opportunity to not be poor and be rich, even at the expense of others, "deserved" to be killed if they resist the robbery? Are you going to say that if you walked by a computer in a bank that was left logged in and was set up so it can take $100 from everyone's account and deposit it into any account you specified and somehow you "knew" it cannot be traced, are you saying with 100% certainty that you will not look around to make sure nobody's looking and then insert your bank account #?

You would have gotten rich at everyone's expense. Personally, my answer is no, I wouldn't, in fact, I would log the computer off. But I know there are plenty of "normal" people when presented with such an opportunity would make a rash decision and just do it. Just like all of the people who illegally download movies because the opportunity is there. Are you saying they are all "bad" and deserve to be robbed? That accounts for a lot of people apparently as seen in the Wolverine leak thread.

Personally I'm against taking anything that isn't yours, and I feel that the people leaking the movies like Wolverine should be prosecuted, but it's unrealistic to say that everyone who simply downloads it or watches it deserve to be punished. There are plenty of "normal" people who do these things that I consider to be no completely right, but I'm not going to say they all deserve to be violently robbed and even killed.

You're basically saying that just because some individuals got rich at the expense of others they deserve to be violently robbed or killed if they resisted, just because they're "bad" people and you feel sorry for the poor people. Sorry man, doesn't work that way. If Robin Hood focused his efforts on just the Sheriff to change the system, then fine, but two wrongs don't make a right.

adding to Ken J's comments, Robin Hood depicted as a villain would have been worth watching(literally in this case) and therefore very profitable to the studio!
Cmon can the detractors say with surity that they absolutely detest 'bad' people!
No one is purely black or white(pun not intended), people have morally grey characteristics. Surely both the sheriff and Robin would have some likeable and not so likeable qualities!
My thinking is that the movie should be called Nottingham and the characters should be portrayed without any prejudice to either side!
Will make the movie worth the trip to the theatre!

Hersh said:

"My thinking is that the movie should be called Nottingham and the characters should be portrayed without any prejudice to either side!"

Nomad sez:

That's an interesting take! I like the idea of complex characters on BOTH sides.