Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on December 2010

Robin Hood: ©2010 Universal Studios. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Apparently, the witty and carefree forest-dwelling thief we know and love, who flirted with Maid Marion and amusingly confounded the Nottingham Sheriff, didn’t buckle his swash sufficiently or something for director Ridley Scott. So instead we have this turgid, joyless, big-deal “prequel” to the myth of the main merry man, in which a lowly archer raises a CG army to repel a French invasion (are those outtakes from Braveheart?), becomes a motivational speaker, and inspires the Magna Carta. What a guy! The reason for most of this nonsense is to give Russell Crowe heroic things to do. Borz in the Hood.