One of those films that is used as a stick to beat Kevin Costner around the head with, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was made for $48 million and went on to make a Worldwide profit of $343 million. That's the sort of stick beating I wouldn't mind taking occasionally! A very loose telling of the Robin Hood legend, Costner's movie is well known to have had production problems. Rushed and with more producers than number a five-a-side football team, the film went on to infuriate purists with its historical, geographical, linguistic and technical gaffes. And that's before we talk about the multitude of accents on offer. So to enjoy Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves you really have to be undemanding as regards any of the afore mentioned issues. To which the film then becomes an enjoyable old fashioned swashbuckling yarn driven by two great, yet differing, acting performances.
Forget Costner, he's adequate in the role of the infamous green tighted one, this is Alan Rickman {Sheriff of Nottingham} and Morgan Freeman's {Azeem} movie. True, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Marian Dubois adds a touch of class, and Michael Wincott's turn as Guy of Gisborne is a nice line in villainy. But Freeman has the quality to give his character some worth, while Rickman runs away with the movie by playing Nottingham as a diabolical sulky git, it's very pantomime in execution, and Rickman is clearly having the time of his life with the role, but it's priceless entertainment. "Call off Christmas", one of the funniest moments of the 90s.
It's one of those films where if someone said to me they thought it was the worst film of the modern era I could understand and sympathise. But then I'd point to the box office takings, Costner swinging thru windows and splitting arrows, and of course Rickman's delicious performance. Hey, sometimes you just got to ignore a lot to have a good old time regardless. 7/10
Forget Costner, he's adequate in the role of the infamous green tighted one, this is Alan Rickman {Sheriff of Nottingham} and Morgan Freeman's {Azeem} movie. True, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Marian Dubois adds a touch of class, and Michael Wincott's turn as Guy of Gisborne is a nice line in villainy. But Freeman has the quality to give his character some worth, while Rickman runs away with the movie by playing Nottingham as a diabolical sulky git, it's very pantomime in execution, and Rickman is clearly having the time of his life with the role, but it's priceless entertainment. "Call off Christmas", one of the funniest moments of the 90s.
It's one of those films where if someone said to me they thought it was the worst film of the modern era I could understand and sympathise. But then I'd point to the box office takings, Costner swinging thru windows and splitting arrows, and of course Rickman's delicious performance. Hey, sometimes you just got to ignore a lot to have a good old time regardless. 7/10