ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES. Directed by Kevin Reynolds; written by Pen Densham and John Watson; produced by John Watson, Pen Densham and Richard B. Lewis for Warner Bros. Starring Kevin Costner, Alan Rickman, and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Rated PG-13.
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This Robin Hood is like a sloppily-tiled bathroom floor—the pieces don't fit together very neatly, but you can still walk on it. The movie has some definite problems with pacing and tone. But it also delivers some good, swashbuckling, summer-movie entertainment—if you can shrug off those annoying little chinks in the tile.
While it presents a realistic and visually stunning picture of life in medieval England, there are also unaccountable moments of cartoonlike silliness in the movie.
Played straight for the most part, the good vs. evil theme, familiar to everyone, is undermined by occasional flashes of very un-medieval (we suppose) humor. And entertaining as it is, the fact that the humor comes almost all from the evil side of the equation (Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham) further throws the movie out of balance.
Rickman is a terrific Sheriff; too good, actually, since he steals the show, if not our sympathies. Mastrantonio, as Marian, is a refreshing change from the usual hand-wringing heroine. Although the script does get cold feet during the movie's climax and pushes her to the background for most of the big sword fight.
There's nothing wrong with trying to update the character of Robin himself, either. And Costner's laid-back style fits a '90's kind of hero perfectly. The problem is that '90's heroes aren't really heroic enough to be Robin Hoods. This Robin is likeable and appealing, but without the charisma he would need to rally a rough band of displaced farmers into an effective fighting force.
Morgan Freeman, as a Moorish aristocrat Robin met while in prison during the Crusades, gives the whip'em-up, inspiring speech that Robin should have given. But, in fairness, Freeman's character has little else to do (in spite of having some of the script's best lines) so I suppose we shouldn't begrudge him this moment in the spotlight.
That Robin Hood manages to be still so very entertaining, in spite of appearing hastily put together and in spite of being pulled in contradictory directions, makes you wonder how good it could have been, if its flaws could have been mended.
July 3, 1991