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Sunday, June 13, 2010

Robinhood

Medium : English
Starring : Russell Crowe, Cate Blanchett, Maxvon Sydow
Director : Ridley Scott


Even in the middle of rainy June, some of the issues happened in the film industry like the relea
se of other language films has still not solved. I moved to watch the second English release of this week, which is a rare phenomena that has not happened in the recent past. Every week, we get a couple of new releases from different languages, as we are lucky enough to be in the capital city where there are 13+ releasing centers in a locality of around 2kms.

We have heard the name Robinhood since our younger days itself, we don't know the chara
cter was a real one or whether it is a fantasy. But he is always a lovable guy among the crowd, as he is also known as the 'prince of thieves' (with the title 'Robinhood', a malayalam film has also been released last year). Now the latest English film, 'Robinhood' has got notable star Russell Crowe in the title role. He is the one who did the lead character in the Oscar winning movie 'Gladiator'. The director of that project, Ridley Scott is also happened to be the director of 'Robinhood'. I asked many, but majority of the people didn't know any other projects of Russell Crowe, excluding 'Gladiator'; I read somewhere about the crime thriller 'L.A.Confidential' in which the actor did a notable role.

The story happens in the 12th century England. Robin (Russell Crowe) is a soldier in King Richard's army. The King is killed by the French soldiers
and as per the last wish of the King, Robin and his companions reached Nottingham with the crown and handed over it to the Royal family. The new King sworns in. Robin meets the widow lady (Cate Blanchett) and as per request from her relative, the old blind man (Maxvon Sydow) in the region, he decides to stay back. At this time, the King is making hidden friendship with the warrior that belongs to the enemy country. The warrior was appointed the new Chancellor and granted him the full freedom to collect extra taxes by attacking the regional kingdoms. Thus the small kingdoms with in England now became an enemy to the King.

The warrior secretly gave shelter to the French soldiers who reached there through sea to prepare for an attack. The former Chancellor and the leaders of the local kingdoms gets united, they gives the real picture of the current situation to the King. Robinhood also reaches there. and they all fought against the French and succeeded in throwing them out. The King acts like a dictator and is not willing to accept Robin and his companions who fought for the country. In the climax, we are shown, Robin followed by his lover and other companions decided to fought against the injustice by staying within the country.

The art work, costume and the make up departments have delivered their best output to give the flavor required for this periodical film. The war episodes and the location with the hero in the horse, some times resembles director's previous hit 'Gladiator'. The title character needs more clarity. Though the war scenes featuring bow and arrow fights are done well, they are not best compared to films that belong to the same genre like 'The Last Samurai', 'Brave Heart' etc. The climax war scene needs more home work in the creativity side and it shouldn't have happened in such a location. The base voice of Russell Crowe is sometimes too hard and it is not easy to follow also. Cinematography by John Mathieson is excellent. Though Ridley Scott will still be remembered as the director of 'Gladiator', his boldness to create another historical subject should be appreciated.


A regular follower of hollywood movies can watch 'Robinhood' also.


Rating : 7 / 10

1 comment:

Jikkumon - Thattukadablog.com said...

Good film. But i thnkd Ridley Scot's style is still in same pace. But watever it is hes a born director. Hats off to him.