Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

1991  PG-13  ADVENTURE  2h 23min

CAST— Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater, Alan Rickman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio

MUSIC— Michael Kamen  DIRECTOR— Kevin Reynolds

     Robin Hood gets the Hollywood/action movie treatment in this exiting version of the classic legend of Robin Hood and his partners in crime, the Merry Men. Kevin Costner plays the title character, giving Robin Hood a quieter, gentler side, instead of the bold, mischievous, gleam-in-the-eye troublemaker that Robin is known for. After returning home from The Crusades, Robin of Locksley soon finds out that, due to the king’s absence, the evil Sheriff of Nottingham is ruling the realm with an iron fist. By raising the taxes to exorbitant levels, he turns the poor citizens into refugees, where they make what home they can in Sherwood Forest. Enter our hero, who teaches the people to rise up, to fight for the basic right to live. Although he was bashed by some critics for not being the Robin Hood they expected (being too straight-laced, not using an accent, etc.), Kevin Costner does give a good performance. But he is at times upstaged by Morgan Freeman (who seems incapable of a bad performance) as a trusted Moor adviser, and by Alan Rickman as the sheriff, who seems to want to be the villain/comic relief. Plus, we get not only the standard sword fights and death-by-arrow action, we also get some good explosions, which are, needless to say, a bit unusual for a film taking place in the dark ages. A far superior extended version is also available.

OUR RATING— ***