THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD Movie Review | Hugh Jackman | Jodie Comer | A24

[00:00:00]He robs from the rich and gives to the poor except for when he does it. Except for when he is a brutal and coldhearted killing machine.

[00:00:11]This is not the fun forest romp of Robin Hood that you are accustomed to. Uh I had to go back after watching the death of Robin Hood and for a pallet cleanser rewatch the classic Daffy Duck Ludy Tunes cartoon. Actually, it's a bucket and a quarter quarter theft, but I'm not telling him that.

[00:00:31]>> Yes. To trip and trip and trip and trip and trip and up and down.

[00:00:36]>> If you also would like that, I'd recommend it highly after going to see the death of Robin Hood because it's a lot. Uh, come hang out with us. Come subscribe. This is a a big A24 movie. Uh, so we do those all the time.

[00:00:50]If you interested in that as well, come subscribe and hang out. Alonzo, what happens in the death of Robin Hood?

[00:00:56]>> I am the outlaw.

[00:01:01]>> Robin Hood?

[00:01:07]>> Yeah, we are not in the Sherwood Forest.

[00:01:09]In fact, I don't know that there's a living leaf in this movie. It's really grim and cloudy and pale and foggy and uh uh storm tossed. Uh yeah, we we have Robin Hood at the end of his life. Um he is not to be [ __ ] with and he is not interested in his own legend and when he hears it from people he's like, "Eh, that didn't happen. I don't know what you're talking about." Uh these are all stories. Um nonetheless, he uh we we see him have a a late in life encounter with his old pal, Little John, who is now going by the name of Edward. um who is trying to just settle down and be a farmer and yet somehow that's not working out mainly because he killed the guy whose farm that he took over and passed himself off as him. Um so you know oops. Um >> anyway, one thing leads to another. Uh Robin Hood is grievously injured and he winds up at a priaryy that is run by Jody Comr. Always love to see Jody Comr in these movies. Um and as he is being nursed back to health, um various people and incidents will sort of force him to kind of come to terms with his past and uh you begin to contemplate the end. The title is a spoiler. Robin Hood dies. Um but you know, the why and the how is is what we're about here. And the and the who he will become and what he will make of what's left of his time. Uh is pretty fascinating. This is a very contemplative film. It is the rare movie that is both eligic and brutal. Um it is super violent. Uh especially in the first like hour or so, the first half hour at least. Um but at the same time it is it is cold in all the ways and you know pretty unsparing. It's from Michael Saddowski who gave us Pig. Um, and you know, he he has a feel for these sort of like brooding uh human stories and also kind of the brutality of nature. Uh, and and you know, Hugh Jackman, I'm sure there will be comparisons to Logan. You know, he's playing another sort of iconic hero at the end of his life and there's a young girl he has to, you know, shelter and all of that stuff.

[00:03:27]>> Tormented loner, you know, Hugh Jackman playing against his charming, charismatic type. Yeah, >> exactly. Yeah. A lot of a lot of grunting, a lot of squinting, a lot of hair. Um, and uh, you know, and he's not the only one who's sort of like hiding his light under a bushel. This movie gives us Murray Bartlett as a leper, uh, who we only see his eyes basically. Uh, you know, if you're Murray Bartlett and you have to carry the Murray Bartlett face around, I'm sure you're like, "Yes, I will do a movie where it's all about my eyes and my acting chops, you know?" So, why not? I don't begrudge him that opportunity. He does liven it up for sure because this movie is like relentlessly dower. So, uh I didn't realize who it was until afterward. I'm like what a waste. What a waste of Murray Bartlett. Also, you have um >> you have a Scarsgard. You got Bill Scarsgard as Lil John and he's unrecognizable as well. Like all these crazy handsome people.

[00:04:22]>> Yeah.

[00:04:23]>> And >> Noah Jup looks like Noah Jup. You get that, you know.

[00:04:26]>> And Jody Comr looks like Dodie Comr.

[00:04:28]Like those eyes and the cheekbones. Um, I found this just relentlessly dow and repetitive and just a total slog for a long time. Like that whole first half an hour to an hour. I mean, it's got like a rich kind of mucky texture to it between the mud and the blood and just like fire against the nighttime sky. Got to mention the cinematographer is Pat Skola who also shot Pig, who also shot Lurker, who also shot We Grown Now, which is like poetry.

[00:05:02]>> Okay. Yeah, that was this is an incredibly gorgeous film. This is so beautiful and there are so many like establishing shots that are just painterly where it's just the light coming through a window through into a dark room and into whatever the the priaryy, the room where where um Robin Hood is living out his his days. Um, a lot of it is very very beautiful and that is what saves this from being um, such a miserable slog for so long. Um, yeah, it's it's But then I thought about it afterward and I thought, okay, maybe it is so dark and so violent and so bloody in an intense and relentless way to then make that second part of the story feel even lighter because it is all like long days in the orchard and sunlight and ocean views and the possibility of healing and the possibility of redemption. So perhaps that first part had to be as dark and intense as it is to create that contrast with the second part. But it's hard to get through though for a while.

[00:06:05]>> It is. It does give the film somewhere to go. But you're right. And and even in the second half like there there's there's like these caverns lit by candles and stuff and I was just kind of like, you know, I luckily I was at a matinea. I thought anybody seeing this movie like at a 10:00 show is going to maybe have a little difficulty staying awake just because this movie is so dark and quiet and foreboating and you know all the time. Um, but you know, I think if you go with its rhythm and you sort of see what what what they're going for, um, you know, on the one hand, I'm kind of like right after, you know, we have our first trillionaire. Is now the time to make a movie about how Robin Hood was a piece of [ __ ] actually, you know? But on the other hand, I'm like, maybe all legends need to be punctured a little, you know? So, um, yeah, I I I don't I don't think the movie is trying to say like, oh, those rich people were good after all. I think it's just like, yeah, this guy was a was a a regular thief who got, you know, sort of blown up into being like a spectacular one, you know, and the people's thief for whatever reasons, >> a heroic figure. He doesn't want to be a heroic figure and does everything he can to obliterate that image. Yeah. I mean, Hugh Jackman is really good here because as you say, it's it's so much of it is his eyes and the just the quiet physicality and his imposing nature and just like squinting almost like a Clint Eastwood character just like squinting into the distance, you know, to to indicate his quiet torment. And it has a lot in common with Pig in that regard, too. The Nicholas Cage character, Pig, which we both loved.

[00:07:38]>> Yeah. uh and how he is, you know, coming to terms with his past, but also, you know, trying to work through who he wants to be and and so I those two kind of I keep saying quiet torment, but that's what these characters are like.

[00:07:53]They're working through some stuff and in the pursuit of like hard one redemption. And so there's some similarities there as well. Um yeah, I I eventually came to really appreciate this from a technical >> perspective more than from a storytelling one, you know, and and like the costume design is very like rich and tactile in terms of like >> rough being rough huneed and it all looks very like period specific and like the priary where they live on the on the cliff is very imposing and you know >> some manufacturer of children's clothes should make that girl's dress that's in like cornflour blue with the one little sort of cut in that has like the six little threads holding it together like the the camera seems to dwell on that a lot. I'm like that is a really great outfit for a child, you know.

[00:08:43]>> Yeah. And Noah Jup is really good in this too if you saw Hamnit, you know, Noah Jup has to do a lot without saying a whole lot as well. Um, yeah. I think as long as you know what you're getting into with this, you know, I went to a four o'clock matinea in my neighborhood and it was really crowded and I cannot imagine that the majority of those people knew what they were in for, right? Like I'm guessing they probably saw Hugh Jackman as Robin Hood and thought, "Oh, this is going to be a really fun adventure." It is not.

[00:09:14]>> Yeah, it is. It is always doing what it's doing. And so, as long as you're down for that, Yeah. I think it is, you know, it is not trying to kind of softpedal its intent like it is gunning for this space of, you know, kind of as you say, you know, quiet torment, brooding, um, uh, uh, uh, regret, uh, violence, you know, and but it is it is very squarely making a home there and I think really delivering on that front. So if if you're down for that, you're going to get it in spades.

[00:09:50]>> Yeah. And everyone's going to Jodie Commer always great. I mean, she just she's so subtle. There's a scene where she gets a piece of information that kind of floores her and just to watch the way like that rushes across her face and just the you can see her almost getting like knocked backward by the words. And so um she's great. I mean, she's always always good. Everyone's really good in this.

[00:10:10]>> It's a lot. Just know that it's a lot.

[00:10:13]Okay. So what is your number then on the death of Robin Hood? I'll say a 7.3.

[00:10:18]It's, you know, I'll probably never watch it again, but it's, you know, it is it is is it is exactly what it wants to be.

[00:10:27]>> Yeah. I will say a 6.8.

[00:10:31]>> Okay.

[00:10:32]>> And a lot of that is just for the the way it's shot and the scenery and the costume design and Yeah. And everyone is just really solid in it. But like you, I never want to see it again.

[00:10:43]Death of Robin Hood's in theaters. Will you see it? Will you see it again? Let us know.