The Death of Robin Hood

The Death of Robin Hood is not your grandfather’s Robin Hood. It may not even be your great-grandfather’s, Robin Hood. This new incarnation showcases Hugh Jackman as an aging outlaw who has to confront his past and may not be the hero his stories have made him out to be.

Written and directed by Michael Sarnoski, The Death of Robin Hood gives us Jackman as a darkly tormented antihero who killed and stole mainly just because he could. This movie makes no effort to say he robbed the rich to give to the poor.

Bill Skarsgard costars as Little John, Robin’s faithful companion, and together the two of them get involved in a fight with a couple of warriors, and the confrontation leaves Robin deeply wounded, but soon he finds himself on an isolated island.

Jodie Comer costars as Brigid, a nun who takes care of Robin. The movie hints at a mysterious connection between the two, but I won’t reveal what it is. Brigid introduces Robin to the islanders, and it is here that he is offered a chance at redemption for his past sins.

Other actors include Murray Bartlett as a leper; Noah Jupe as a young man who crosses paths with Robin and Faith Delaney as a little girl named Margaret, whom Robin takes under his wing and teaches her archery.

Director Sarnoski gives us by far the most gritty, brutal, and downbeat interpretation ever put on film. It has such a murky look and tone that is consistent throughout. The violence is sort of a cross between Logan and The Northman. It doesn’t shy away from its ferocity in the first half, at least, especially in the aforementioned battle at the beginning. It’s so gritty at times in its look and style that it makes Ridley Scott’s version with Russell Crowe look like Errol Flynn.

Jackman plays Robin Hood in a similar fashion to Logan, as both characters are on their last legs, and they deal with the repercussions of their past while receiving a chance to have atonement through a small child. It’s intriguing if Sarnoski structured the story with that approach in mind.

The Death of Robin Hood is going to be a little too thoughtful and too character-driven to please an audience expecting hardcore action, but that subversion was neither unexpected nor unwelcome to me. I liked how this version of Robin Hood was a deconstruction of the myth in a way that shows him as human and tortured, and Jackman brings an effective amount of gravity and broodingness to make the character work.

Audiences expecting another rousing swashbuckling retelling will be disappointed, but this version has enough skill and poignancy to hold it together.

Grade: B

(Rated R for strong bloody violence.)