Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves (1991)

 Robin Hood-Prince of Thieves DVD
This is an awesome movie. I owned it on VHS, but have been trying to replace all my VHS tapes for DVDs. The VCR has been gone for over 2 years now. March 27, 2008

 What!?
I love this movie, but I thought it was so lame, in this version, that I had to flip the disk over to finish the thing! Was there really that much information that you couldn't have but the whole movie on one side of the disk? Lame. March 20, 2008

 When Kevin Costner was cool.
Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves was a film I loved as a child. I just loved Kevin Costner back then, Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater also star and pull off flawless performances. Watching this film now, well it isn't as special as I thought but it's still a good movie. I never cared for the story of Robin Hood but this one feels current even though the dialogue is authentic to the time period. And you can't help but think of that Bryan Adams song, fits great with this film. I recommend checking this '90s classic out. March 4, 2008

 A Prince of Thieves....
1991's "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" featured better than average production values and a strong cast in yet another take on the familiar Robin Hood legend. Kevin Costner has the lead as a young crusader returning from captivity in the Holy Land, only to find his father murdered and his family's lands confiscated by the dastardly Sheriff of Nottingham (in a wickedly gleeful turn by Alan Rickman). Robin, accompanied by an Moorish warrior (a taciturn Morgan Freeman) who owes Robin his life, is driven into the forest, where he becomes the leader of a group of outlaws.

Kevin Costner's Robin Hood is self-confident, even a little arrogant. His time with the outlaws and a secret romance with Maid Marion (a fiesty Mary Elizabeth Mastriano) will cause him to mature rapidly. When the Sheriff of Nottingham captures some of his men and attempts to force Maid Marion into marriage, Robin must come up with a plan to save his friends. The stage will be set for a frantic fight to the finish in Nottingham Castle. Sean Connery has a priceless cameo as King Richard the Lion-Hearted at the end of the movie.

This movie is recommended as solid entertainment. If it deviates in places from the standard legend of Robin Hood, it does so with enough solid action to make the viewing worthwhile.


March 2, 2008

 Rickman (Five Stars) + Costner (One Star) = Three Stars
PLEASE NOTE: My review is for the Kevin Costner version of Robin Hood. For some reason, Amazon is currently grouping all the reviews from *both* the Costner and Bergin version of Robin Hoods.

Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves had a lot of potential. It had going for it a stellar cast including Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater & Alan Rickman. It had an epic storyline, handed down generation after generation, about one of the all-time classic heroes. It had a big production budget, and a memorable score. And yet... all that it managed was a decent action film.

Perhaps the biggest problem is Kevin Costner. His Robin Hood not only doesn't have an English accent (which is something easily forgiven), but also has a wooden, monotone personality (which is not). The others of Sherwood seem to find Robin inspiring, but I find him very dull -- he can't even muster real passion for Marian. Costner has a long history of derailing movies, and he almost ruins this one, too.

Another problem that this movie suffers from is a needlessly bloated cast. For some reason, the makers of the film weren't content with the Robin Hood legend, as-is. They thought that it needed more characters. And so, they invent a witch, and a young boy, and an blind servant, and a snarky moor, etc. Some of these characters wind up becoming more central than even Robin Hood staples, like Little John and Friar Tuck (wonderfully played by Who's Line Is It Anyway regular, Mike McShane). It makes a person wonder why. Why did we need to make up these new characters, when all it really served to do was to take away from the others? No one, other than Costner and Rickman as the villain, winds up getting a lot of screentime.

This movie would be a lot worse than it is, if anyone other than Alan Rickman had played the Sheriff of Nottingham (who also assumes Prince John's usual role of usuper). Rickman is superb in just about everything he does, and he is perfectly cast here. "At least I didn't use a spoon," is a line my friends and I still quote to each other, all these years later. Alan Rickman is the one true spark in this otherwise tepid film.

Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves had a lot of potential. Ultimately, it turned out an action flick that was fun enough to watch on the big screen, but doesn't really hold up in the living room, years later. It suffers from a pointlessly changed storyline, bloated cast, and a stone-faced, one-tone delivery from Kevin Costner. It is relieved by some of the strong performers in its cast, most notably Alan Rickman, who is a perfect Nottingham/John villain.

Three stars. February 26, 2008

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