Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe team up here for the fifth time to retell a tale that's been told on cinema screens more times than bears counting. It's to their credit then, that this incarnation of Sherwood's favourite outlaw doesn't remotely suffer from a sense of deja vu. This Robin, who is not a man you'd catch dead in bright green tights, is Robin Longstride, a scruffy archer in the crusades of Richard The Lionheart. During his return to Merry England, a series of coincidences leads to Robin the archer impersonating the freshly killed Sir Robert Loxley, late husband of Marian (Cate Blanchett), who had been charged with bringing the news of King Richard's death to the Royal Court. It's all surprisingly convoluted for a film that is at its finest when delivering visceral wham-bam battle sequences.

Although the plot plays around with various historical happenings, we're dealing with the kind of revisionist epic that dispenses with the "verily thou cometh" style of dialogue we traditionally associate with medieval period drama. Instead scriptwriter Brian Helgeland (LA Confidential) essays a style that sees Will Scarlett congratulate Robin on his good fortune with Marian via a hearty "good work. ". You half expect him to add "go on my son" for good measure. ... read more