Grappling with his past after a life of crime and murder, Robin Hood finds himself gravely injured after a battle he thought would be his last. In the hands of a mysterious woman, he is offered a chance at salvation.

‘The Death of Robin Hood’ is a Robin Hood story, but not as you know it. Based on a 17th century ballad called ‘Robin Hood’s Death’, it is a bleak and dark film about the final years of the folk hero’s life. Directed by Michael Sarnoski (‘Pig’, ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’) and starring Hugh Jackman in the leading role, its raison d’être seems to be to rip up anything we thought we knew about Robin Hood and present an entirely different take on the character. It begins with Robin Hood killing a young woman who is trying to kill him in vengeance for his killings of her family members, and it doesn’t really get much cheerier from here. The Disney adaptation, this is not.

The first part of the film is unrelentingly, and I’d say excessively, violent, so as to leave us in no doubt that this version of Robin Hood is not the hero we thought he was. A sequence involving his old friend and fellow outlaw Little John (Bill Skarsgård) is particularly grim, and while Sarnoski’s aim is to use violence and savagery to dismantle the legend, I’m not sure it needed to be to this extent. It does morph into a better film once Robin Hood (now going by ‘Randolph’) arrives wounded on a remote island, where he is nursed back to health by Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer). From this point onwards it becomes a meditative exploration of the complicated humanity behind Robin Hood, as he reflects back on the murderous life he lived and the path of destruction he left behind. It’s certainly an original take on the character and I’ll give it credit for that, even if it didn’t fully work for me.

Its biggest strengths are the performances, led by Hugh Jackman’s excellent take on an elderly Robin Hood, with Jodie Comer a good foil as Sister Brigid. Other characters play smaller parts, but Noah Jupe, Murray Bartlett and Bill Skarsgård all leave a mark as people from Hood’s past and present. I also felt Sarnoski generates a compelling atmosphere and some individual sequences that work particularly well. Overall though, I found ‘The Death of Robin Hood’ to be a flawed but interesting take on the character, and I suspect it may struggle to find an audience. It deliberately strips away much of the adventure, romance and heroism traditionally associated with Robin Hood, replacing it with something far bleaker and more challenging, and I’m not sure that will be a version of the character everyone will want to spend time with.

Rating: 3/5

Directed By: Michael Sarnoski

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer, Bill Skarsgård, Murray Bartlett, Faith Delaney, Clive Russell, Jade Croot and Noah Jupe

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt32273171/