Robin Hood... again

[Mikey]

Well, kids - it's a hackneyed sunject, but this attempt is by the greatest living movie director. Can Ridley and Russell catch lightning in a bottle again?

trailer

[Sionnach Glic]

Ridley Scott's an excellent director. I'm willing to bet on him pulling off a damn good movie.

Let's just hope the bloody studio execs don't edit it down into awfullness like they tried to do with Kingdom of Heaven.

[Mikey]

Agreed. If Scott had a low point in my opinion, it was either that or Thelma and Louise... and even in the latter, he got an incredible performance from Sarandon. As you say, I'm expecting good things if he's been allowed to present his vision.

[Sionnach Glic]

Have you seen the Director's Cut of KoH? It's practicaly a completely different movie. Things make sense in this one.

Honestly, I think Scott just gets the worst editors appointed to him.

[Mikey]

Have you seen the Director's Cut of KoH? It's practicaly a completely different movie. Things make sense in this one.

I haven't. Well, another one on the list.

[Sionnach Glic]

It's definitely worth a watch. All the "WTF?" moments from the theatrical cuts now have actual explainations attatched to them. Things like a blacksmith from some French village becoming an expert fighter in five minutes or knowing loads about how to conduct warfare and defend against sieges make sense this time around.

[Deepcrush]

I have both KoH DVDs and I put the original in by mistake one night. I was so pissed I almost killed rochey! Then I noticed the case and had a face/palm moment.

[Sionnach Glic]

Well, I'm certainly glad you figured it out first.

[shran]

i tend to wonder about its historical accuracy, if any. Robin hood probably did exist, but nbot as the head of a band of merry men as seen in Disney. i seem te recall some information that he was a highwayman, a robber hiding in a forest, and that's it. Friar Tuck and the like were probably added in only in folklore and films.

[Deepcrush]

Seems that in the latest remake he in fact commands a rather large army...

[Vic]

There are a couple of different ideas about how the tale came about and the when the various characters joined it, they chose one and ran with it.

[Sionnach Glic]

Seems that in the latest remake he in fact commands a rather large army...

Hmm....Russel Crowe as the former commander of an army turned fugitive who strives to get revenge over the ruler of his land. I'm sure I've heard that before somewhere....

[Mikey]

Hmm....Russel Crowe as the former commander of an army turned fugitive who strives to get revenge over the ruler of his land. I'm sure I've heard that before somewhere....

I'm sure it's just coincidence. I mean, this time he's working with Ridley Scott.

i tend to wonder about its historical accuracy, if any. Robin hood probably did exist, but nbot as the head of a band of merry men as seen in Disney. i seem te recall some information that he was a highwayman, a robber hiding in a forest, and that's it. Friar Tuck and the like were probably added in only in folklore and films.

There may have been an actual figure at the root of the legends, or an amalgam of characters like Arthur, but many signs point to him being fictional. His birthplace and area of operation are in doubt - he's most famous for being in Nottingham (Sherwood Forest,) but there are also references to him being from/in Barnsdale or South Yorkshire or the now-famous but minority idea that he was from Loxley. There are records of a "Rubenhode" or the like in early judicial records. The earliest literary records are passing allusions - in Piers Plowman, for example, the priest references rhymes of Robin Hood. The earlier references depict him as a yeoman, which at the time (14th- 15th c.) indicated a commoner of his own possessions; a miller, or artisan, or somesuch. The idea of him being a peer came later, with him being made into the Earl of Huntington in a later play. Marian and Friar Tuck were later additions to the story, but the Merry Men were there from the beginning, with early references to Little John and Will Scarlet specifically. Further adding to the air of Robin Hood being mythical is the inclusion of "Robin Hood games" in May Day celebrations as early as the earliest stories.

His time frame is also dubious. While traditionally he is seen as operating during the Third Crusade, loyal to Richard Couer de' Leon and opposed to John, an early text names the current king as Edward, and further references a pardon which Robin later disavows and returns to outlawry.

England was very much a product of the forced confluence of disparate but large groups, and Robin Hood may have reflected that. Some have him as a surviving figure of old Celtic or Pictish pagan groups or a representative of them, fighting to survive in a world in which the secular meddlings of a Church as a political entity were encroaching. Others may have regarded him as a representative of the Angles fighting a Saxon influence, or vice verse, or an Anglo-Saxon symbol fighting against a Norman or Breton influence.

[Sionnach Glic]

By now the myth of Robin Hood has become so mixed up due to thousands of different retellings, it'd be rather difficult to try and extract any factual information about him. Thus I'm happy enough to see another retelling of the story, which is what Scott's movie seems to be.

[Deepcrush]

It wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for my pure dislike of Russel Crowe.