from the series Movie Corner…
3/5 Stars
2026
Ryder Picture Company
Period Piece/Adventure/Drama
By HOWARD MCQUITTER II
Over the last century, many actors have played Robin Hood on film and television. The earliest Robin Hood is played by Douglas Fairbanks (1922). Errol Flynn takes on that legendary character in the 1938 film The Adventures of Robin Hood. Flynn’s version of Robin Hood as a man who delights in robbing the rich and giving to the poor is probably the best known. Sean Connery donned the cape but as an older, more seasoned Robin in Robin and Marian (1976). Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood plays a more modern version of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves which was a blockbuster. To be a more comedic Robin Hood, Cary Elwes did a parody of the fictional character in Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993). Russell Crowe plays a hardy, war-battled archer with a dark edge in 2010. Taron Egerton in 2018 plays a rather action-packed Robin Hood. On television, Richard Green plays Robin Hood in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1955-1960). Then there’s Michael Praed and Jason Connery who both play Robin Hood in the 1980s British series Robin of Sherwood.
However, director Michael Sarnoski’s film The Death of Robin Hood is vastly different from the mostly traditional Robin Hoods that audiences have been used to in the last century. A Robin Hood that gets seriously injured in the first half-hour arrives after exchanges of blood- soaked fighting among bandits and others out purely to get revenge on their opponents. This Robin Hood is acted by Hugh Jackman. His serviceable performance is wired in intensity, although often (but not always) effective. Anyway, he is left for dead until Prioress Sister Brigid rescues him and brings him to a brick priory on a mountain. The year is 1247 A.D. during the high Middle Ages of sanguinary affairs, the rise of new religious orders, universities, and expanding trade.
The audience witnesses a Robin Hood drawn from the dirt and ground into a setting where time for reflection, retrospection, and perhaps redemption is possible. Bill Skarsgard’s character Little John goes well with Jackman’s Robin Hood. Friar Tuck is absent here. Little John and Robin Hood both realize that Sister Brigid is a healer.
Cast: Hugh Jackman (Robin), Jodie Comer (Sister Brigid), Bill Skarsgard (Edward), Jade Croot (Wainwright), Katie Breen (Margaret), Michael Hanna (Second Kill at Farm), Faith Delaney (Little Margaret), Noah Jupe (Arthur/Godwyn), Clive Russell (Elderfather), Amy McElhatton (Hendrie’s Aunt), Maeve Connelly (Hendrie’s Great Aunt), Murray Bartlett (The Leper), Elijah Ungvary (Hairy Kinsman).
Director and Writer: Michael Sarnoski.
Cinematography: Pat Scola.
Composer: Jim Ghedi.
Running time: 124 minutes.
Rating: R
