History Film / RobinHood2010

The film distinguishes itself from previous Myth/RobinHood films in that, [[FollowTheLeader like other then-recently rebooted franchises]] like ''Film/StarTrek2009'' and ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'', it offers an expanded origin story for the hero, showing how he met his supporting cast and how he became an outlaw. However, the fictional elements of the film's origin story are made up for the film itself, and familiar folkloric elements are not depicted, or at least [[DarkerAndEdgier not in the usual way]]. The film connects Robin's origins with historical tensions between King John and his nobles. [[ArtisticLicenseHistory Historical liberties taken are extreme]].

* HollywoodHistory: Despite [[BasedOnAGreatBigLie being promoted as going into the history behind the legend]], the film contains rather large deviations and inventions.
** According to the film, [[spoiler:Robin Hood's father]] is responsible for a precursor of Magna Carta. [[spoiler:Despite promising to give it his seal of approval, John doesn't and has Robin outlawed for his trouble. This does not contradict the fact of the real Magna Carta being signed several years into John's reign, which Scott plans to cover for real in a sequel, should it be greenlit.]] [[AllThereInTheManual The production notes]] explain the charter is intended to represent the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_Forest Carta de Foresta]] (Charter of the Forest), which awarded rights, privileges and protection to the common man (whereas Magna Carta was primarily concerned with the rights of noblemen). In the film, [[spoiler:Robin's father]] drafts it years earlier. [[spoiler:Yet John's refusal to approve it still does not contradict history, because the real Carta de Foresta came after Magna Carta, sealed by John's son Henry III.]]
** The main plot conflict is dodgy because [[spoiler:King Philip never invaded England. At the time, he was much more interested in recovering Angevin territories in France than he was in invading the English mainland. Years later, when John broke the terms of the Magna Carta and many barons rebelled for real (unlike the film), Philip's son Louis led an invasion with their support.]]
** The film shows Richard [[spoiler:dying from a crossbow bolt almost immediately.]] In truth, he [[spoiler:lived for more than a week, succumbing to gangrene after a botched operation. He lived long enough to see the crossbowman (a boy who defended the walls with a crossbow and a frying pan -- not a cook) brought before him. He forgave him (even after the boy confessed that he had shot Richard to avenge his father and brother) and ordered that he be set free and rewarded with 100 shillings for such a lucky shot. Shortly after Richard's death, the pardon was retracted by a mercenary captain, and the boy was flayed alive.]]
** Richard's death: the film explicitly mentions the year 1199. This is true. However, the circumstances of Richard's death are badly muddled. In the film it's stated that his death occurs as he's returning to England from the Crusades. In actual fact, the Third Crusade effectively ended in 1193 as Richard had to rush back to England after the political crisis fomented by John reached a boiling point. On the way home, Richard was shipwrecked in modern-day Croatia and taken prisoner just outside Vienna by an enemy of his from the Crusade, Duke Leopold of Austria. Richard would spend the next two years a captive of both Leopold and later Emperor Henry IV of the Holy Roman Empire, finally being released after much wrangling and a near-ruinous ransom was paid. Richard was finally released to friendly territory in the Angevin Empire, from which he made his way to England. There, John's forces almost uniformly surrendered without a fight to Richard (the one prominent holdout being, fittingly enough, Nottingham Castle, which did offer resistance), and Richard was free to rule again after a second coronation. It was a piddling rebellion on his marchlands that caused his death in April, 1199, not a skirmish during his return from the Crusades.
** Richard speaking English, bragging about his English heritage and directing slurs to the French during the first siege for that matter. In reality, all "English" monarchs and nobles between 1066 and 1453 were of Norman extract and spoke the Anglo-Norman language, more like French than anything English. While they would have looked down on the rest of the French, they also would have considered English to be the language of peasants. Richard himself was far more interested in controlling Normandy than England. England was most important to him as a source of wealth, and was more a somewhat important frontier land in the Angevin Empire than his cherished homeland. To Richard, "home" wouldn't even have been Normandy, the heartland of the Empire -- it was his mother Eleanor's domain of Aquitane. England's main value is it allowed him the title of King. Otherwise, he was technically a vassal of the French king, although the English holdings in France were as or more valuable than what the French king held.
** The film also, and quite understandably, chooses to ignore the fact that Isabella was ''twelve'' when she married John.

* AnachronismStew: Despite the film's generally authentic medieval feel (HollywoodHistory aside), the ships in the climactic beach battle look rather like [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII WWII-era]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCVP Higgins boats]], only rowed instead of motorized. The ships and the battle itself have prompted comparisons to ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''. During that battle Robin also uses a type of war hammer that would not be common until the 15th century.

* ArcWords: "Rise and rise again, until lambs become lions." According to Robin it means "Never give up." [[spoiler:The phrase is the motto of his late father, who was executed for preaching in favor of increased civil rights and against absolute monarchism. Sir Walter, a supporter, had the phrase engraved in his sword hilt. When his son gives this sword to Robin years later, Robin's suppressed memories are stirred by the phrase, kicking off the main plot thread.]]

* BilingualDialogue: The nobility are perfectly comfortable speaking and understanding both French or English. This is true to history as, just barely a hundred and fifty years after the Norman Conquest, much of the nobility and certainly the Norman royal house would have used French (or, specifically, Anglo-Norman, a related language also called Norman French) as their language of choice. English was a peasant's tongue and was not used in government until the fourteenth century, due to UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar and further reinforcement of negative opinions of the French.

The film distinguishes itself from previous Myth/RobinHood films in that, [[FollowTheLeader like other then-recently rebooted franchises]] like ''Film/StarTrek2009'' and ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'', it offers an expanded origin story for the hero, showing how he met his supporting cast and how he became an outlaw. However, the fictional elements of the film's origin story are made up for the film itself, and familiar folkloric elements are not depicted, or at least [[DarkerAndEdgier not in the usual way]]. The film connects Robin's origins with historical tensions between King John and his nobles. HollywoodHistory is rampant.

Like most previous ''Robin Hood'' films, this movie has its own beat and style. It is an AdaptationDistillation of centuries of oral and written tradition, and book, television and film treatments. Most of the familiar story details everyone knows only developed through the centuries, including the association of Richard and John, Robin being a knight, a Storming The Castle climax, and even Robin's shtick of robbing the rich and giving to the poor.

The film distinguishes itself from previous RobinHood films in that, [[FollowTheLeader like other recent rebooted franchises]] like ''Film/StarTrek'' and ''Film/TheDarkKnightSaga'', it offers an expanded origin story for the hero, showing how he met his supporting cast and how he became an outlaw. However, the fictional elements of the film's origin story are made up for the film itself, and familiar folkloric elements are not depicted, or at least [[DarkerAndEdgier not in the usual way]]. The film connects Robin's origins with historical tensions between King John and his nobles. HollywoodHistory is rampant.

Like most previous Robin Hood films this film has its own beat and style. It is an AdaptationDistillation of centuries of oral and written tradition, and book, television and film treatments. Most of the familiar story details everyone knows only developed through the centuries, including the association of Richard and John, Robin being a knight, a Storming The Castle climax, and even Robin's shtick of robbing the rich and giving to the poor.

!!Provides Examples Of:

* ArcherArchetype: Well, it ''is'' RobinHood.

* BookEnds: When Robin first crosses paths with Godfrey, [[spoiler: Godfrey flees on horseback, and Robin only managed to nick him with an arrow. In the end, the same situation plays out, but Robin catches him in the neck.]]

* CanonForeigner: Most notably [[OriginalCharacter Original Characters]] Godfrey and Walter. In a looser sense, the [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Historical Domain Characters]], aside from Richard and John, who get to be part of the story for once.

* ChekhovsArmy: The film opens with a band of young thieves stealing Nottingham grain. Marion explains they are orphans whose fathers died in Richard's wars. [[spoiler:While they are glimpsed once or twice in the middle of the film, they show up again to help Marion and Tuck free the captive villagers while Robin and TheCavalry fight off Godfrey's raiders. They also show up at the climactic beach battle, led by an armour-clad Marion. At the very end of the film, when Robin is declared to be an ''outlawww'', they form the majority of his band.]]

* CorruptChurch: Most of the church officials are blind to the hunger and poverty of the people, as long as their own riches are filled. [[GoodShepherd Averted with Friar Tuck]], who could use the Church’s own argument against them when [[spoiler: Robin robbed the grain from the previous Friar.]]
* CutLexLuthorACheck: Godfrey is best buddies with the King of England, who promotes him to his second in command. He couldn't possibly get any ''more'' power by betraying him to King Philip. He takes a great risk to become a rich man in a wealthy nation rather than a rich and powerful man in a less wealthy nation.
* DanceOfRomance: Robin and Marion get one (to the beautiful [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYPasc_i4qg Woman of Ireland]]) when the villagers are celebrating the planting of the corn stolen by Robin and his men from the CorruptChurch officials.

* DarkerAndEdgier: This is certainly one of the grimmest tellings of a Robin Hood story, from the old ballads to modern works. Definitely so, compared to ''The Adventures of Robin Hood'' and most other Robin Hood films, by having more (or more overt) violence, politics and poverty than is the norm. Crowe's Robin is far from Flynn's wisecracking rogue. Even ''[[Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves Prince of Thieves]]'', which already tried to be Darker And Edgier while at the same time having [[LaughablyEvil Alan Rickman]] [[FauxAffablyEvil as the Sheriff]], is outdone by this film.

* DropTheHammer: Robin wields a horseman's hammer during the cavalry sequence, before switching to a sword for the climactic final duel.

* DuelToTheDeath: [[spoiler: In the middle of a battle, Robin faces Godfrey in a sword fight,]] though the traditional outcome of this trope is subverted [[spoiler: when Godfrey rides off and Robin offs him with a [[OneHitKO single long-range arrow shot]]... [[InTheBack from behind.]]]]

** Robin - Melancholic (always thinking, very progressive, and a natural leader)
** Little John - Choleric (patient enough to wait for Robin's signal to go into fights, as he is infantry, but never hesitates when it's time to fight, is the big guy of the team, and can be fairly cruel with his jokes)
** Will Scarlet - Sanguine (the most social of the four, quick to make jokes, but also the one to verbally panic when the group approaches London)
** Allan-a-Dale - Phlegmatic (quiet when he's not singing, generally follows along with anything the others want without argument)
* FrenchJerk: An army of them!

* TheHecateSisters: The three female characters. Flirty and sensual Princess Isabella is the Maiden, middle aged ActionGirl Marion Loxley is the Matron and elderly Eleanor of Aquitaine is the Crone.

** According to the film, [[spoiler: Robin Hood's father]] is responsible for a precursor of Magna Carta. [[spoiler: Despite promising to give it his seal of approval, John doesn't and has Robin outlawed for his trouble. This does not contradict the fact of the real Magna Carta being signed several years into John's reign, which Scott plans to cover for real in a sequel, should it be greenlit.]] [[AllThereInTheManual The production notes]] explain the charter is intended to represent the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charter_of_the_Forest Carta de Foresta]] (Charter of the Forest), which awarded rights, privileges and protection to the common man (whereas Magna Carta was primarily concerned with the rights of noblemen). In the film, [[spoiler: Robin's father]] drafts it years earlier. [[spoiler: Yet John's refusal to approve it still does not contradict history, because the real Carta de Foresta came after Magna Carta, sealed by John's son Henry III.]]
** The main plot conflict is dodgy because [[spoiler: King Philip never invaded England. At the time, he was much more interested in recovering Angevin territories in France than he was in invading the English mainland. Years later, when John broke the terms of the Magna Carta and many barons rebelled for real (unlike the film), Philip's son Louis led an invasion with their support.]]
** The film shows Richard [[spoiler: dying from a crossbow bolt almost immediately.]] In truth, he [[spoiler: lived for more than a week, succumbing to gangrene after a botched operation. He lived long enough to see the crossbowman (a boy who defended the walls with a crossbow and a frying pan - not a cook) brought before him. He forgave him (even after the boy confessed that he had shot Richard to avenge his father and brother) and ordered that he be set free and rewarded with 100 shillings for such a lucky shot. Shortly after Richard's death, the pardon was retracted by a mercenary captain, and the boy was flayed alive.]]

** Richard speaking English, bragging about his English heritage and directing slurs to the French during the first siege for that matter. In reality, all "English" monarchs and nobles between 1066 and 1453 were of Norman extract and spoke the Anglo-Norman language, more like French than anything English. While they would have looked down on the rest of the French, they also would have considered English to be the language of peasants. Richard himself was far more interested in controlling Normandy than England. England was most important to him as a source of wealth, and was more a somewhat important frontier land in the Angevin Empire than his cherished homeland. To Richard, "home" wouldn't even have been Normandy, the heartland of the Empire -- it was his mother Eleanor's domain of Aquitane.
*** England's main value is it allowed him the title of King. Otherwise, he was techincally a vassal of the French king, although the English holdings in France were as or more valuable than what the French king held.
** The film also, and quite understandably, chooses to ignore the fact that Isabella was ''' ''twelve'' ''' when she married John.
* IAmDyingPleaseTakeMyMacguffin: Twice

** Second: Robin is directly tasked by a dying knight to bring his sword back to his father. The sword doubles as both MementoMacguffin and SwordOfPlotAdvancement, because [[spoiler: ArcWords engraved on its hilt stir Robin's hazy childhood memories, and this drives him to seek out more information in the knight's hometown of Nottingham.]]

'''Robin:''' No...I meant he was a good knight.

* MythologyGag: In one scene, Marion explains to Robin that "I was no maid" when she married her husband. Later, the French stirring up trouble in England includes a scene where a French soldier cuts a chandelier's rope, crushing a priest underneath.

* OohMeAccentsSlipping - This provided much humour for British viewers of the film, in which Robin Hood jumps around several areas of England in a single scene. Also proved to be Russell Crowe's BerserkButton, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rr-6ZjlGuBU when quizzed by Mark Lawson about it.]]

* OriginsEpisode: This movie is one for the legend of Robin Hood, as most of the movie is about explaining how myths related to him (such as [[spoiler:stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, being an incredible archer, living in the forest with his Merry Men, etc]]) came to be in the first place. By the end of the movie [[spoiler:the Robin of legend has only just begun his work, and the Sheriff of Nottingham has finally become his antagonist.]]

* RainOfArrows
* RapePillageAndBurn: Godfrey's modus operandi, under the pretense of taxation. Feeling strapped for cash, the newly crowned John plans to raise taxes against the advice of his infinitely more experienced mother and chancellor. John fires the chancellor and gives his job to Godfrey, who is ordered to get him his money by all means. Godfrey personally leads a warband through the land carrying out the trope; [[spoiler: the audience knows all along that Godfrey is an agent of France purposely spreading unrest and disunity in anticipation of an invasion.]]

* RecycledINSPACE!: The final beach battle, with apparently anachronistic ships, has been described as ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan'' [-IN MEDIEVAL TIMES!-]

* RedHerring: [[spoiler: The scene where Marshal tells Godfrey to backstab him before he does. In fact, that's the last they interact with each other in the movie, and Godfrey is shot through the throat.]]

** Instead of Robin and Little John fighting with staffs over a bridge, the film has the two [[spoiler: fighting over a shell game.]]
** Instead of Robin meeting Friar Tuck at a river and the two conning each other into carrying the other over, Tuck is [[spoiler: the new town priest who does beekeeping and mead brewing on the side.]]
** Will Scarlet and Allan A'Dayle are [[spoiler: already Robin's army buddies at the start. Will is not related to Robin.]]
** Instead of stealing money and jewels and distributing them to the poor, Robin steals [[spoiler: grain owed to the Church so that the people of Nottingham won't starve.]]

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Both Kings of England [[spoiler: and the King of France]] act as field commanders in battle, though John's lack of experience is duly noted and has to take advice from William Marshal and Robin.

* ShirtlessScene: Robin gets one when Marion prepares a bath for him. The Merry Men get one after their "historic evening".

*** Crowe as Robin Hood catches a weapon thrown to him by TheBigGuy after riding along the ranks of his troops on horseback, exactly as he did in ''Gladiator''.

* TagalongKid: When Robin, John, Will and Allan desert the army[[spoiler: after Richard's death]], a young sapper (who Robin saved in the film's opening castle siege) comes with them. However, he's also a RedShirt.
* TakeOverTheWorld: The EvilPlan of the real BigBad is to take over England. [[spoiler: He originally planned to have Richard killed, but [[TruthInTelevision Richard helpfully got himself killed on his own]] even before we see him plotting.]] He counts on his agent [[spoiler: Godfrey]], John's buddy, to get into a position of power by which he can foment unrest. With the English nobles divided among themselves, he then [[spoiler: plans to invade.]] It would have worked too, despite counter-intelligence finding the plan out, except for [[DidntSeeThatComing a certain archer blundering across a dying knight]], who then compels him to go to Nottingham, where he will find out his true heritage - which includes a drafted charter of rights which is used to unite the nobles in support of John (and vice versa).
* ThisCannotBe: [[spoiler: When King Philip sees the English army waiting for him, he says (paraphrased) "This does not look like a country at war with itself!"]]

* TrailersAlwaysLie: Trailers kept the fact that the movie centers around Robin before his outlaw days hidden.

* ReCut: As is the norm with Creator/RidleyScott films, this one received a Director's Cut, which added 15 minutes to the film and filled in a major PlotHole. Details here http://www.movie-censorship.com/report.php?ID=103527.

The usual storyline, about the nobleman Robin being outlawed, making trouble for the Sheriff of Nottingham, and StormingTheCastle at the end to save Maid Marion (the one used by Douglas Fairbanks' silent ''Robin Hood'', ErrolFlynn's ''Film/TheAdventuresOfRobinHood'', ''[[Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves Prince of Thieves]]'', ''[[Film/RobinHoodMenInTights Men in Tights]]'', etc.) is hardly covered here -- this film is more of an OriginsEpisode for that heroic outlaw.

* AnachronismStew: Despite the film's generally authentic medieval feel (HollywoodHistory aside), the ships in the climactic beach battle look rather like [[WorldWarII WWII-era]] [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LCVP Higgins boats]], only rowed instead of motorized. The ships and the battle itself have prompted comparisons to ''Film/SavingPrivateRyan''. During that battle Robin also uses a type of war hammer that would not be common until the 15th century.

** The film also, and quite understandably, chooses to omit the fact that Isabella was ''' ''twelve'' ''' when she married John.

* {{Fanservice}}: Robin removing his armor is for the ladies, as well as continuing the growing sexual tension between Robin and Marion.

* ArcWords: "Rise and raise again, until lambs become lions." According to Robin it means "Never give up." [[spoiler:The phrase is the motto of his late father, who was executed for preaching in favor of increased civil rights and against absolute monarchism. Sir Walter, a supporter, had the phrase engraved in his sword hilt. When his son gives this sword to Robin years later, Robin's suppressed memories are stirred by the phrase, kicking off the main plot thread.]]

* NonindicativeName: Some reviewers are of the opinion that the plain title "Robin Hood" was inadequate for a film about how a man became Robin Hood amidst warring kingdoms. He is "officially" Robin Hood only at the end. May fall into InNameOnly territory, if you AccentuateTheNegative and have the [[InkStainAdaptation Flynn-style Robin]] as reference.

* TranslationConvention: Either this or TheyJustDidntCare, considering all English nobles at this time would have spoken French. Richard the Lionheart is recorded as not being able to speak English at all (meaning modern historians consider it more accurate to refer to him as Richard Coeur de Lion).

* NiceCharacterMeanActor: An adorable, ditzy white horse is played by a mean, stern horse who hits the black stallion for his bad acting.

* MildlyRoyal: King John wants to rule this way [[spoiler: and fails]]. His brother, also, acts like he wants to hear WartsAndAll truth from his subjects. [[spoiler: He doesn't.]]
* MissingTrailerScene: A crucial one at that; see ExecutiveMeddling above.

* NiceCharacterMeanActor: An adorable, ditzy white horse is played by a mean, stern horse who hits the black stallion for his bad acting.

** The anachronistic-looking warships arriving at the beach battle seem to reference the famous D-Day sequence in ''SavingPrivateRyan''.

* RecycledINSPACE!: The final beach battle, with apparently anachronistic ships, has been described as ''SavingPrivateRyan'' [-IN MEDIEVAL TIMES!-]

* CutLexLuthorACheck: Justified. Godfrey is best buddies with the King of England, who promotes him to his second in command. He couldn't possibly get any ''more'' power by betraying him to King Philip. The problem is that England is having financial troubles because of the Third Crusade and other reasons. A comparitively lower position in the better off French Court offers more money and more power.