“The Death of Robin Hood” Review

In his subversion of the Robin Hood mythology, writer-director Michael Sarnoski concerns himself less with adventure than its aftermath and the nature of legend, how the facts are blurred with each telling and re-telling of a story such that even its own hero cannot remember what really happened. Striving for poignancy but achieving only tedium, the resulting film is the emotionally and visually dour proof that not all stories need a gritty re-telling.

Most film adaptations of the Robin Hood legend portray the title hero as a lovable scamp fighting alongside his Merry Men as he charms Lady Marion and battles the villainous Sheriff of Nottingham. “The Death of Robin Hood” sets its story years after these quests have become the stuff of legend, with Robin Hood (Hugh Jackman) not some endearing rogue, but a traumatized killer, constantly waiting for the loved ones of his past victims to find him and put him out of his moral misery.

When his most loyal companion, Little John (Bill Skarsgård), seeks his help to save his wife and daughter from a rival family, Robin sets out on a grisly quest that ends with him battered, bleeding, broken but not yet dead. To save his life, Little John sends him away to the Priory of St. Clement, led by a prioress, Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer), capable of near-miraculous healing. Convalescing under an assumed identity, Robin tries to unpack the weight of his own legacy as he tries to carve out a life defined more by humanity than murder.

Subverting the oft-told legend of an unambiguous hero stealing from the rich and giving to the poor is a noble pursuit given the countless Robin Hood film adaptations already in existence, but the deconstruction can only work if the alternative story and ideas are compelling in their own right. Michael Sarnoski peels away all of the thrills and adventure, all of the charm and glamour of a heroic rogue and replaces it with dreary and, frankly, boring drama.

Visually, the film is a brown, unsaturated mess, as if the mere presence of color would suggest fun that has no place in this plodding takedown of populist folklore. Violence is portrayed as gruesome and sloppy, with none of the charm we’re used to for our typically swaggering hero. Sarnoski has stripped away all of the romance and thrills of the Robin Hood story but replaced all of the morally simplistic adventure with staid drama and repetitive philosophy.

Each time the movie threatens to become interesting, such as scenes in the middle when Robin warms up to the idea of a patchwork family united by trauma, Sarnoski pivots, as if portraying anything as entertaining is anathema to all of the serious brooding going on.

Hugh Jackman leads a cast filled with strong performances, and gives a sensitive turn recalling his portrayal of Wolverine, another warrior beaten down by years of violence and reckoning with his own legacy, in “Logan”. Bill Skarsgård cleverly uses some of his monstrous acting tricks developed in “Nosferatu” and the “It” films in an enigmatic take on Little John as a loyal simpleton who prefers violence to language.

”The Death of Robin Hood” may successfully defy all genre conventions in its more thoughtful approach to the swashbuckling legend, but it unfortunately also defies all characteristics of a good movie, resulting in a dramatically one note snooze-fest.

The Death of Robin Hood
Rated R for strong bloody violence.
Running Time: 2 hours and 2 minutes.

Director Michael Sarnoski
Writers Michael Sarnoski
Stars Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer, Bill Skarsgård, Murray Bartlett, Noah Jupe
Rating R
Running Time 122 Minutes
Genres Action, Adventure, Drama