The title should not be The Death of Robin Hood but rather The Death of the Robin Hood Legend. For anyone who knows swashbuckling Errol Flynn or even Kevin Costner as Robin, this take directed by Michael Sarnoski is somber, sometimes very dark fantasy about an elderly 1247 AD Robin (Hugh Jackman) initially camping out then meeting again with Little John (Bill Skarsgard).
After they revenge the murder of Little John’s wife, Robin spends his time with nuns in a mountain-top monastery, especially under the care of the mother superior, Sister Briget (Jodie Comer). During this down time, Robin has a chance to regret his life of an outlaw including enough murders that he can’t keep count, much less regret, until now.
The romantic time in Sherwood Forest with his merry men robbing from corrupt nobility and giving to the poor may in part be true, but, overall, here Robin regrets the abandon with which he broke the law and others used his myth as excuses for their own criminality. The film is convincing, largely about his contrition and his rehab by way of attending to little John’s daughter, Margaret (Katie Breen,) and conversing with Sr. Briget in the priory for convalescent children high above the ocean.
Sarnoski’s dialogue is devoid of overly dramatic sentiment but rather attends smartly to survivors like Margaret. Those who stick romantically to the glossy depiction of Errol Flynn should avoid this drama, which humanely deconstructs the emotional damage of men like Robin under the cloak of romance, those myths spun by outsiders who don’t know what really happened.
As families of those he murdered are hunting Robin down, Sarnoski in the first act shows enough battle between hardened 13th century men to satisfy action-hungry audiences. Yet, later the change to a good man is successful for those of us who never fully bought into the goody green-clad hero. With The death of Robin Hood, I enjoyed the full picture about Robin Hood in one of the best movies of the year.
The Death of Robin Hood
Director: Michael Sarnoski (Pig)
Screenplay: Sarnoski (A Quiet Place: Day One)
Cast: Hugh Jackman (Les Miserables), Jodie Comer (28 Years later)
Length: 2h 3m
Rating: R