Listen, I’m no Robin Hood purist. I’m more than willing to see a revisionist take on the legendary folk hero who’s been portrayed on screen many, many times. Sure, I’m partial to a fun, rascally Robin Hood, as embodied by Errol Flynn. Or a mature, pensive Robin Hood, by Sean Connery. Or a surly, vengeful Robin Hood, by Kevin Costner. Hell, I even enjoyed Cary Elwes’ parodistic Robin Hood in one of Mel Brooks’ lesser efforts, Robin Hood: Men in Tights. So if director-screenwriter Michael Sarnoski (Pig, A Quiet Place: Day One) wants to give us a radical version that tells us, as the film’s marketing informs, “He was no hero,” fine.
Unfortunately, the filmmaker is so keen to make good on his premise that The Death of Robin Hood becomes a tedious slog. You spend most of the film’s overlong running time wishing that its main character would die a quicker death.
The Death of Robin Hood
The Bottom Line
Not very merry.
