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Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (2 Disc Special Edition) [1991]
![Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (2 Disc Special Edition) [1991]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/515XBTWNZDL._SL160_.jpg)
If you can accept explosives in 13th-century England, that the approach to Sherwood Forest is a modern conifer plantation and that the 170 miles from Dover to Nottingham is a matter of a few hours ride via Northumberland, then you may find much to enjoy here. Otherwise an already overlong film has been extended to an excessive 148 minutes in this special edition, making far too much of a not very good thing. On the DVD: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is presented as a two-disc set, with a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer that is generally good looking but with an occasionally soft picture and some evidence of dirt and minor print damage. The Dolby Digital 5.1 remix of the original stereo soundtrack is atmospheric and powerful and shows off Michael Kamen's score to its best. Though presented with 12 minutes of footage not seen in the cinema version, the film still suffers most of the cuts (amounting to 28 seconds) imposed by the BBFC over the years. The main extras are a pair of commentaries: Costner and Reynolds discuss the film in frank and enthusiastic detail, while on a second track Freeman, Slater, writer/producer Pen Densham and cowriter/producer John Watson offer a great deal of insight plus a fair bit of stating the obvious, backslapping and critic bashing. Robin Hood: The Myth, the Man, the Movie (31 mins) is a cut version of a 45-minute TV special originally broadcast in America the night before the premiere, and offers an interesting if brief look at the Robin Hood story plus some routine making-of material. Finally, there is a video of Bryan Adams performing "Everything I Do, I Do It for You" live at Slane Castle and 18 minutes worth of bland electronic presskit-style archive interviews with Costner, Freeman, Mastrantonio, Slater and Alan Rickman, plus the original American trailer, a stills gallery and cast and crew list. --Gary S Dalkin
RRP: £18.99
Our Price: £3.63 (subject to change)
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Kevin Costner's lousy English accent is a small obstacle in this often exciting version of the Robin Hood fable. That aside, it's refreshing to have a preface to the old story in which we meet the robber hero of Sherwood Forest as a soldier in King Richard's Crusades, coming home to find his people under siege from the cruelties of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman). After Robin and his community of outcasts and fighters take to the trees, director Kevin Reynolds (Fandango, 187) is on more familiar narrative ground, and he goes for the gusto with lots of original action (Robin shoots two arrows simultaneously from his bow in two directions). Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, as Marion, makes a convincing damsel in distress and Morgan Freeman brings dignity to his role as Robin's Moor friend. Alan Rickman, however, gets the most attention for his scene-chewing role as the rotten sheriff, an almost campy performance that is highly entertaining but perhaps a little out of sorts with the rest of the film. --Tom Keogh
Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves reinvented the legend for contemporary cinema audiences, and in doing so far outstripped at the box office even Kevin Costner's own infinitely superior Dances with Wolves to become the biggest hit of 1991. It's an entertaining enough family adventure film, but plays like a big-budget TV movie with no distinctive flair for action or romance. (Director Kevin Reynolds would reunite with Costner four years later for the equally stodgy Waterworld). If the accents are all over the place, at least Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio makes a Maid Marion of ravishing Pre-Raphaelite beauty. Morgan Freeman is fine as Robin's Moorish sidekick, though, other than to expand the demographic, his character has no business being in the story. Realising that the whole enterprise has the credibility of a pantomime, Alan Rickman outrageously camps up his Sheriff of Nottingham, stealing the film in the process. Costner makes an acceptable hero, though he will never replace Errol Flynn in the definitive The Adventures of Robin Hood.
Hollywood, not Sherwood
Review date: 2008-02-01 Rating: 6 out of 10
It's Hollywood, not Sherwood, with Kevin Costner's Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves fighting injustice in his quest to make England free for those who can't actually speak the language, armed only with his trusty longbow, a dubious accent ("This is English courage" gets a big laugh every time), a fluctuating waistline and an unerringly bad sense of direction. "Come, by nightfall we will dine at my father's castle," he says to his Muslim sidekick Azem (Morgan Freeman). Not when you land in Dover you won't. And Hadrian's Wall is NOT "but five miles" from Nottingham. Sorry, Kev.
You have to look a long way down the credits to find an English actor, unless you count the villains, with Alan Rickman's Sheriff so far over the top that he's back again, leaving you with the impression that Costner's controversial decision to cut many of his scenes had more to do with restraint than pique. With Christian I-Want-to-be-Jack-Nicholson-when-I-grow-up Slater in the cast, you can forgiven for fearing the film will turn into Surf Saxons Must Die, and British writers Pen Densham and John Watson do display a healthy contempt for their heritage and history. No-one actually says it, but you know they're thinking "screw history, let's blow something up," and, indeed, the script manages to pull of the twin feat of giving a logical reason for Robin having a black sidekick and getting lots of explosions into a medieval adventure, although they don't quite manage to convince you that their Robin truly is modelled after the Tim Holt character in The Magnificent Ambersons.
Neither Errol Flynn's definitive adventure nor Sean Connery and Richard Lester's brilliantly melancholy interpretation have anything to worry about, with the film falling between the two stools and offering political correctness instead of revisionism and opting for pure adventure with the trimmings of gritty historical realism brushed aside whenever it threatens to get in the way.
The biggest problem is that the scars of a messy and acrimonious production (seven credited producers, no less) are all too visible. Kevin Reynolds' direction lacks the punch of his earlier and unfairly overlooked The Beast of War or even his bonkers Rapa Nui, with some uncomfortable medium shots and the unsteadiest Steadicam work in cinema history, while subplots such as the black magic element are thrown away after the early scenes. On the plus side, Michael Kamen's score is his most enjoyable and exciting, John Bloomfield's costumes are terrific, Doug Milsome's photography almost camouflages the bad weather and some of the action scenes are well handled, although it's hard to imagine anyone here giving Basil Rathbone or even Robert Shaw too much trouble in a swordfight.
While the 2-disc edition has some okay but fairly low-calorie extras, the film itself - aswith all previous editions - is cut by the BBFC: in this case some 26 seconds of censor cuts.
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Reviews
Unexpectedly Enjoyable
Review date: 2007-12-06 Rating: 8 out of 10
Im not really a fan of Robin Hood at all. In fact, I didn't ever plan to watch this film as it seemed far too boring and outdated for me. However, this film is thoroughly enjoyable; well acted, with a good plot and a great soundtrack (Bryan Adams hit - Everything I Do, which has the longest ever record at number 1 in the English charts).
Kevin Costner plays the part of Robin Hood well, and i think the character suits him. The bad accent is not that much of a let down, and to be honest, with all the Hollwood actors and actresses these days with Amerian accents in every film i didn't really notice.
Morgan Freeman is a great support actor in this film, like as always (e.g. The Shawshank Redemption) and his performance here is fantastic, despite the fact that his level of action in the film is pretty low, especially compared to Costner.
But, the real reason this movie is so so good is because of one fact. two words. Alan Rickman. I haven't really see him in many films but this has to be one of his best performances. This one of my favourite characters ever a film, just think of Johnny Depp in Pirates Of The Carribean, except Alan plays the villianous Sheriff Of Nottingham, and its played with less "campness" and more dry witt. He truly steals the show.
If you should watch this film, which i think you should, if you're into action packed films that can be watched by the whole family and that includes some romance as well, the biggest reason for watching it would be for Alan Rickman.
Well Done Alan
Disappointing DVD version
Review date: 2007-10-21 Rating: 6 out of 10
Having seen this film many times before on video, my problem is with the DVD version (rather than Kevin Costner's dreadful acting/accent/lack of soul etc!).
I was really disappointed by the poor quality of the film footage itself and also at the amount of cuts made. Small they maybe but they are very noticable and very annoying.
It's still worth watching if only for Alan Rickman's performance which is fantastically OTT and highly entertaining.
At a loss
Review date: 2007-08-25 Rating: 8 out of 10
As a film in itself this was very good indeed. As a version of Robin Hood, however, it was very inaccurate.
Since when was there anything in the story about the sherriff killing Robin's father. This means he HAS to be an outlaw. The whole idea is that Robin had a choice wether to keep his title and his lands or to help his people and give all that up. He could have been loyal to the sherriff and been much happier. What is so admirable is that he chooses to sacrifice that for his people.
But now, due to this weird turn in the plot, he has no lands or anything and the sherriff wants him dead anyway. So he has nothing to lose. In fact if he wants to keep his life he has to leg it to the forest. He's an outlaw before he's an outlaw (if that makes sense). The whole noble choice he made in the story is lost.
Why is gisbourne the sherriffs cousin??? Why is Will Scarlett Robin's half-brother??? And the sherriff kills gisbourne????????
As i say, its a good film, but the story is way too twisted to suit what they want.
WHAT?????!!!!!
Review date: 2007-08-17 Rating: 2 out of 10
That is exactly what I thought when I first saw this film. I almost couldn't believe what I was seeing, and hearing, as Costner drawled out his highly unlikely dialogue with a barely disguised Texan accent or whatever it is he has. When I shut my eyes briefly, which I found I had to do on occasion to spare myself from this risible pantomime of a film, I was taken back to my childhood as I swear I could hear good ol' Deputy Dawg on the screen. It was one of the best laughs I've had at the pictures, certainly the best when I wasn't expecting it. If you think I'm being unfairly mean, fellow reviewers, then I ask you please, to look critically at the components that make up this film...'Incongruous?' I ask - Costner's accent for one. 2: The silly modern dialogue; 3: The revisionist expanded story; 4: The inclusion of a totally incongruous character, the Saracen; 5: A feisty feminist type woman as Maid Marion 6: A completely pantomime villain in the naughty Sherriff; 7: A politically correct feeling to the whole film. And I haven't even mentioned the star's awful acting, as he attempts to draw us all in with that air of self importance, or feigned gravitas that he has. All I can say is, with this legend, Hollywood is on safer ground with their cartoon like revisions of history, because the Robin Hood thing is much, much more legend than fact. So, I wasn't really at all angry at their usual nonsense here, as I have been in other films (Braveheart springs instantly to mind). I just relaxed and enjoyed a good laugh.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Christian Slater
Alan Rickman
Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Kevin Costner
Morgan Freeman
Director(s):
Recording label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
EAN: 7321900140010
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 2
Format: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen,
Release date: 2006-07-01
Number of discs: 2
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 148 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1991-06-14
Language: English (Subtitled)
Language: English (Original Language)