Robin Hood Prince of Thieves 1997 review
I own the Kevin Costner DVD of Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves from 1997 and have seen it many, many times. I have a strange relationship with this film. I absolutely adore many aspects of it. Other parts drive me completely insane. Just what is good and not-so-good about this film?
First, it's important to understand the context of this film. There were at least three different versions of Robin Hood all coming out at the exact same time. Hollywood is like that - it seems to bubble up an idea that many studios then compete to get done first. One of the competitors here was the Patrick Bergin Robin Hood, which I adore. Bergin's version had to go straight to TV because Costner's did indeed get out first. So the Costner version deliberately made sacrifices in order to achieve that which, given the high movie sales, paid off.
One of the sacrifices involves Costner's speaking style, which is an issue that I (and many other reviewers) find absolutely mind-numbingly annoying. They never planned to use his actual voice. They planned to overdub the ENTIRE MOVIE with him in an English accent. They ran out of time. Here's the result. It's not just that he speaks in an American accent. I could take that. It's that he speaks in an incredibly odd, stilted manner, a la William Shatner's James T. Kirk, because he assumes he's going to be overdubbing this all later in an elegant British style. But since we're stuck with the raw speaking, it just feels awful. He ... Speaks ... In ... Monotone. OrHeRushesItAllBreathlesslyTogether. There are so many lines here which should have been stellar and which he gives no emotion to. It's because he didn't think he had to! He thought this was just "placeholder speak" to then put the true effort into later on. And he was wrong.
So, that out of the way, the rest of cast didn't have this issue and is just SUPERB. Morgan Freeman is awesome. Alan Rickman is amazing! He steals the show. So much of the rest is amazing. What they SHOULD do is, now that they have the time and money, release a properly dubbed version. That would be the ultimate. Surely they could do that, if they were planning to do it before if they had time?
In terms of medieval authenticity, it's a mixed bag here. Definitely it's not as "stage play" style as the Errol Flynn version. Still, it's also not nearly as authentic as the Russel Crowe version. The costumes are a bit on the shiny-clean side. They try for the "gritty realism" with their start in a Holy Land jail with people's hands being cut off, but it's a Disney-realism, not an actual-realism. The grit looks more painted on than real. Scenes are often played up more for comedy than an actual portrayal of medieval life.
Speaking of which, I absolutely have to point out an issue I have with Marion's character. We begin the movie with her being a leather-clad ninja, perfectly able to take on a sword-wielding crusader and hold her own. She is tough and resourceful. By the end of the movie she is a shrill, screaming, helpless damsel who can't do much of anything to take care of herself. What?? This didn't make sense on a number of levels.
The rest of the swordfighting here is adequate. I took swordfighting classes for several years and the medieval novel series I write involves sword-fighting females. So this is an area I pay attention to. It's not as bad as some movies where the actors barely hack at each other, but it also doesn't have the fine work seen in others. Swordmaster Terry Walsh is good, but he's no Bob Anderson.
So, how to summarize. Alan Rickman really makes this for me. I could watch this over and over again just for his lines and delivery. He is a master. If they could just properly dub Costner's voice back over his "placeholder" speech, I think I'd be amazingly content.
And as a final note the DVD I have makes me flip it half way through the viewing, which annoys me every single time. I really should get the BluRay version so I can just put it in, sit back, and enjoy.
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