Robin Hood is devoted to all of the stuff we love about the title character — you know, the stunning displays of archery skill, the robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, etc. Instead, we’re forced to watch as the future folk legend, who begins the film as a lowly infantryman in King Richard’s crusading army, engages in significantly less riveting endeavors, like gambling with fellow soldiers in between sieges, arguing against the killing of defenseless Muslims, planting a wheat field just just in time for the rainy season, and debating the merits of the Magna Carta.

Needless to say, this isn’t Kevin Costner’s Robin Hood (which, say what you will, was at least entertaining), but a gritty, period-authentic, “real” take on the character, absent all the usual Hollywood gloss and polish.
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