This adaptation of Robin Hood from Ridley Scott sticks more to history rather than the legend and, although it's a little slow moving and a bit jumbled-up, it's quite an effective technique. It's a film more brutal than previous Robin Hoods as you would expect from Scott and is generally quite an epic. The main problem is that Russell Crowe is too subdued and slightly too wimpy to play Robin Hood. He's no match for Kevin Costner in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. Otherwise this is the most accurate adaptation of the story to date telling the tale of how Robin Hood became an outlaw and how many people formed the character. A film to be watched and be impressed by even if it lacks the sheer scale of Gladiator.

I thought it was very slow moving, Robin and Marian were both too old (particularly considering that the film was supposedly telling the story leading up to Robin becoming an outlaw - they looked more like they were due to retire!), and the characters lacked depth. I couldn't feel empathy for any of the characters in it, and the film didn't really draw me in. As said by other reviewers I think the decsion to base the film on Robin's pre-outlaw days made it not feel like a Robin Hood film at all, and I felt like I was just waiting for the story to start all the way through, but as the film was so long, I was quie glad when it finished, having (having, as far as I'm concerned gone nowhere!).

Disappointing. Trying to be an adult version but the fallback to the childish ruins it. eg Man swinging upside down from tree above 2 soldiers says "Hello gentlemen" before bashing their 2 heads together. How many times have we seen this in childrens pictures. Positives - some good battle scenes.