Robin Hood (2018) - Movie Review

This film is a 12A, was released on November 21st 2018, and this review will contain NO SPOILERS 

Introduction 

Nowadays, we see a lot of reboots coming from Hollywood. This is mainly because they're struggling for new ideas, but also because it's easier to find a fanbase and make money from a product that already exists. However, we do occasionally end up with tons of interpretations of one story. The classic folk tale of Robin Hood is a perfect example of this. The classic story of the thief who robs from the rich and gives to the poor has been put to the screen many times. 

But, in my opinion, the best interpretation was from Disney in 1973, which didn't even star humans! It was anthropormorhpic foxes and bears. I grew up with this film and it was one of those Disney films that lived in the DVD player. So, I don't think that there is much more left to explore with this character, but maybe I'm wrong...

Thoughts Going In 

I was excited for this film at first. I really like Taron Egerton and the trailers did make it look cool, to say the least. However, a swarm of negativity surrounded it over the past week, making me wonder whether it was actually worth my time or not. Well, it's the middle of exam season so I'll take a cinema trip whenever one comes about. My expectations were mixed for the most part.

The Story 

So, is there anything new that this interpretation shows us? Kind of. In this version, Robin begins as your average medieval tough guy who meets a girl named Marian. The two instantly fall in love but Robin has to go and fight in the Middle East. After a mishap where Robin almost betrays his leader, everyone believes him to be dead. However, he returns to England only to find that the Sheriff of Nottingham is ripping everyone off with their taxes, and Marian has found new love with a man named Will. So, Robin teams up with a fugitive named John, and the swashbuckling thievery begins. 

What I Liked 

The best thing about this film was Egerton as Robin Hood. I think his strongest points as an actor are when he brings charm, wit and humour to his roles, many will be familiar if you've seen the Kingsman films (2014 and 2017), Eddie the Eagle (2016) or Sing (2016). Here, while he doesn't fully utilise his strengths, he is still very likeable and has enough charm to be entertaining. He pulls off the tough guy performance well enough and was definitely a bright spot in the film. I should also mention that supporting roles from Jamie Foxx and Ben Mendelsohn were decent too. 

There is the occasional good action scene, but there is one in particular that I thought was amazing. It's basically a chase involving horse-drawn wagons through narrow streets of a mining town, along with a small tangent when Robin hops on one of the horses and begins to run around the rooftops. The choreography of all the fighting and various other set pieces was really well organised. It was the only scene that I thought was worth mentioning. 

What I Didn't Like 

My biggest issue with this film was the way it looked and was stylised. We're supposed to believe that this is medieval times, but the clothing and action seems so much like such from nowadays or even the last decade. As you may have seen from the trailers, there is a section in the Middle East. Nothing about this scene is specific to the time period. You could easily substitute the bows and crossbows for guns and it'd make so little of an impact. The costumes were also hugely distracting. There's so much leather, revealing clothes on women, fancy jackets, and an assortment of things you'd see people wearing today, as well as hair and make up which seems remarkably unrealistic. I think this film could've easily settled with this style if it set the story in the 21st century. That also would've given the film more of an identity, and make it stand out against the tons and tons of other versions of this story. 

The pacing of the film also seemed a little bit off. The beginning is not only extremely pretentious, but very rushed. We flippantly switch from introduction to characters, to the first bit of conflict, to meeting John and training with him, all in the first half an hour. This really undercut what could've been some really engaging scenes. If they had extended out all of this, we as the audience would have a much deeper understanding of who these characters are and how they came to be who they are in the second act. Because as it is, we're not really connected to these people and can't really connect to the struggles they face. I understand that they want to cut to the cool bits where we see Robin as a thief, but weirdly enough, the first 3 proper robberies he does are glossed over. We see a quick cut of action but not enough to enjoy ourselves. This is only apparent until the chase I mentioned earlier and the climax. So not only do we skip all the parts which are necessary for the story, but we don't even see many of the parts we came to see and get a kick out of.

Conclusion 

Robin Hood isn't exactly a disappointment. It further enforces why Taron Egerton is a strong talent, along with delivering some neat set pieces. But it can't decide what exactly it wants to be as well as glossing over what could be some really necessary and exciting moments. I think this film will pass the time just fine for anyone, but it isn't exactly anything great. As for me, I don't think I'll be watching it again any time soon, but I won't actively try to avoid it either. I think I'll just stick with the animated version for now.

I'm going to give Robin Hood an A

Hunter Killer - Movie Review

This film is a 15, was released on October 19th 2018, and this review will contain NO SPOILERS

Introduction 

In this modern age, there are plenty of films which are so good they're good, as well as so bad they're bad. But we also have many which are so bad that they're good. To me, I'd always take a good bad film over a good good film if I enjoy the former more. Most of these bad films include Olympus has Fallen, London has Fallen, and even though I haven't seen it but I'm sure it'd be included in this list, Geostorm. What all these films have in common besides being so laughably terrible that they're hilarious? A man named Gerard Butler. 

Thoughts Going In 

I didn't go out of my way to see Hunter Killer, but I thought it'd pass the time just fine and perhaps bring a few laughs with how stupid it was. Plus, Gerard himself is enough to make me know I'll enjoy a film. But regardless of how much I thought I'd enjoy the film, I had super low expectations.

The Story 

Gerard is a tough, but sensitive guy named Joe Glass. He's brought on to a mission to go to Russia where a submarine was recently attacked. After taking a few suspected criminals from the crash, the submarine he's in is called into save the Russian president after a series of convoluted events. Meanwhile, Gary Oldman is the admiral, shouting at a control room of people.

What I Liked 

In all fairness, this film isn't as poor as I thought it'd be. There is a lot of competence on display here from the director and the performances. The actions scenes are well crafted and do make you feel some basic form of tension. One involves the big, long submarine trying to carefully manoeuvre its way around sound-sensitive sea mines whilst everyone on board has to stay dead silent. It doesn't have you biting your nails, but you do feel what the characters are going through. There are other various ones torpedoes and missiles heading towards the sub as well as some mainland combat with soldiers. All do show this isn't the worst quality of film on display.

The best thing about the film is by far Gerard Butler himself. He isn't genuinely one of my favourite actors like Chris Pratt, Benedict Cumberbatch or Taron Egerton, but he's definitely a lot of fun to watch, especially in films where he plays the generic tough guy who shouts a lot. That is exactly what you have here. It isn't as entertaining as London has Fallen simply because the direction and script for that film was complete rubbish, but here he is trying to be the same character again and it was quite fun to watch and laugh at.

What I Didn't Like 

The film is too long. Not only is it too long, but it jumps back and forth from several groups of people we're supposed to feel tension about. But the way it jumps isn't consistent because it spends too long on one groups that when it has cut back to another one, you either forgot they were in the film or didn't want to cut back because the other group was more interesting. I don't think any groups could've been emitted from the film because they're all necessary to the plot, but if 20 minutes at most were cut, it'd be beneficial.

The film is also surprisingly dull. There's a lot of boring scenes where it's either an overly long tracking shot which adds absolutely nothing, or bland talking between characters which isn't as engaging as it thinks it is. Gary Oldman tries his best to make these more interesting by shouting at the top of his lungs in most scenes, but it doesn't do the job. I don't quite think this film knows that its audience are not going to be people that saw Darkest Hour, but rather those who saw every Gerard Butler film on Netflix. As a result, it lacks the guilty pleasure which I get from other good bad movies, and instead just feels like a poor attempt at a gritty action drama. 

Conclusion 

Hunter Killer is just bland, forgettable action. It has one or two neat scenes with Gerard doing his very best, but it doesn't do anything outrageously bad that's funny or serve as a guilty pleasure. Instead, it's a film I can imagine popping up on network television very soon. And it's also one I don't think I'll be rewatching soon. Hopefully Geostorm will do the job this film didn't. 

I'm going to give Hunter Killer an A