ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES (1991) *1/2 If this was the only Kevin Costner movie that I'd ever seen, I'd have no idea what the fuss was about. It's an incoherent film that can't figure out whether it wants to be serious and grotesque or slapstick and silly. So it does a little of each, a very little. Costner sets the irregular pace by sounding like Robin Hood of Omaha, who occasionally remembers to say things slightly backwards in an ambivalent effort to sound British. There's not much to the performance, as much could have been done with the role by Jon Bon Jovi. Alan Rickman goes against all tides by hopelessly overacting each of the incongruent facets of his scenes, an approach in which he's joined by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. You feel sorry for Morgan Freeman on so many levels, and when Sean Connery shows up, way too late to save the day, you just want to yell at him to stay the hell off the screen, it's a trap! The costumes are cool, and some of the action is alright, but I don't know how these people ever listened to someone saying how they wanted to do an ill-tempered and very long Robin Hood treatment. It's a lowbrow concept, even in a town notorious for not exactly catering to the exalted and unique.
back to Brilliant Observations on 1776 Films page, or Index
go back home, or send me email
Reviews won't do it any more! I need sustained brilliance! I want to buy your novel!