Is this darkness why the movie is so controversial? I mean, Disney have shown a cabin boy being prepared to hang but only this movie went ahead with it and showed the hanging itself in all of its traumatising detail.
Not to mention the gruesome witch, the body injuries and corpses and the villain attempting to rape the damsel in distress!
Yeah this movie was a little much for me when I as 10 years old. Most kids saw it too.
shareYeah, ain't it great? Back when the PG13 rating meant something.
shareAnd yet, all everything anyone remembers about it is Alan Rickman's laugh lines!
shareIt was a far less sensitive time. I didn't bat an eyelid at any of that stuff. There was also Islamic prison at the start with torture and the attempt to cut Robin's hand off.
Never thought about it.
Agreed. I was just sitting here thinking, "Is this movie controversial?" I am not aware of any controversy surrounding it.
shareI remember Costner's accent being the only "controversy". I don't think anyone thought about the violence or darker aspects, some of which are more vaudevillian in their comedy like when Rickman separates Marion's legs during his attempted rape of her and how in the middle of it the Witch hands Rickman a pillow for her head which even causes Marion to break 4th wall and look at the camera.
I watched the film again recently and Christian Slater's accent and overall performance is more a crime than Costner's.
Hard to really take the film seriously at times it is almost like 2 films edited together given the mix of humour and darker aspects.
I suppose I agree with you, but only to the point where we stop short of actual criticism: I love the movie and think it's awesome.
It's certainly not a perfect film but I enjoy it and, at this point, think it's kind of underrated
As for controversy and violence, nah, my dad was pretty strict when I was young and he let me watch it. That says a lot.
Not sure what the original intent of the film was but then my fave Robin Hood film with Errol Flynn is also quite campy. Whereas I tried watching the one with Russell Crowe and turned it off after 20 minutes because it seemed miserable. I think I may have tried watching the one they did after that too and it was also terrible. So perhaps it is what it is. I haven't watched the other Robin Hood film that came out around the same time as this one and was buried due to it. But it is on my viewing list so will see if they did it any better or differently.
I watched this film with my family including grandparents and the violence was not even noted. I don't think it is a problem.
I actually just watched the Flynn film for the first time a few months ago. It's an interesting artifact of film history.
I watched the Crowe film in the theater. I barely remember it and couldn't tell you what the plot is. All I remember is thinking that it didn't really feel like Robin Hood and that the story was a little hard to follow.
I tried watching the Robin Hood film from a couple of years ago with Jamie Foxx. It was an abomination. Total shit. I turned it off halfway through when I just couldn't take it anymore.
I don't recall another Robin Hood movie coming out around the time of the Costner film. You have any more info on that one?
There was an English film around the same time which got buried due to the Costner film https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102797/
I remember seeing it way back but can't recall anything about it. They also change the names of the villains.
I tried the Jamie Foxx one and had to turn it off. Everything looked wrong, the costumes, actors everything. The opening battle scene looked like modern warfare.
Crowe's one was just terrible I agree. And how does a New Zealander fail at a Brit accent? I didn't last long with it and turned that off as well.
I'll have to check out that other '91 adaptation.
Robin Hood is always a fun story, when done well. It will never die.
Sadly though, it seems that Robin Hood films tend not to do well at the box office these days. I know Ridley's version and the one with Foxx did poorly. Granted, neither were particularly good films, but audiences didn't even show up to find that out.
My theory, not only on Robin Hood films but anything medieval/Dark Ages (historical in general) is the film makers wreck it by trying to be "Diverse" in various ways. A film like Excalibur is still the benchmark for Arthurian legend, what has been made after that has been very "Woke" non British races in key roles, modern hairstyles and costumes, women in roles they may have not been in etc.
I think with the Foxx version word got out early, that happens with the internet of course. People see previews etc and I know I can work out if I will like a film or not very quickly. Just a certain "X Factor" about it. With the Crowe version, I believe that Crowe was already well past his popularity at the time and is a very polarizing actor.
By the way there was also an English TV series on Robin Hood which is considered to be the most authentic to the legend at least for the first couple of seasons. The tird season gets a little weird. It was made in the 80's.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086791/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robin_of_Sherwood
You could be right regarding wokeness, at least in part.
You couldn't lay that charge at the feet of the Crowe version though. And even if Crowe wasn't enough to motivate people, I would've thought that a Crowe/Ridley Scott reunion would be. I did go see that one in the theater so they at least got MY money.
It seems that historical works in general struggle today. If Ben-Hur was released today, it probably would fail at the box office. Hell, Gladiator might too.
Thanks for the heads-up on the show.
Back in the day when PG was still some serious shit.
What I find more jarring is that the filmmakers seem to never be able to decide if they are making a fun romp or something more serious. Alan Rickman definitely decided early and goes for the laughs but even that contrasts weirdly against the darker themes.
shareIt’s a fun romp. Similar tone to Indians Jones and the Temple Of Doom, except not as dark.
shareI was 10 when it came out and wasn't really traumatized by any of it. My parents taught me to differentiate fantasy and reality.
share