MovieChat Forums > Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991) Discussion > I'm shocked at how bad this is.

I'm shocked at how bad this is.

posted 8 years ago by cybopath
6 replies | jump to latest

For some reason I've never watched this film. I guess I wasn't really a Kevin Costner fan as a kid, who is?, and I even think back then I found an American Robin Hood stupid.

Alas however with an interest in Historical Adventure I decided to get round to this. What the actual hell 1991? This was your second highest grossing film?

I was expecting a Hollywood movie, no doubt. I know that entails a certain amount of Americanization and commercialization. It happens in Braveheart for example but they still have a foot in some kind of reality even if they pain characters with broad strokes.

But this? Everyone who isn't good is a sniveling pantomime villain, Alan Rickman is like a cinematic version of Black Adder. He is raised by a devil worshiping witch... WHAT THE FLUFF? Complete with a children's TV dungeon set that has dry ice and green lights.

The main problem aside from the casting of Robin Hood is this is neither fish nor fowl. If they had intended to make a swash buckling adventure movie maybe some of this would be over looked but every so often they try and make this some profound historical epic with Kevin spewing out some half assed noble words.

Honestly the one with the cartoon fox was more believable.

[–] herbsuperb 8 years ago

I never got the sense that this was a 'profound historical epic', nor that it was trying to be one. I think the Ridley Scott version tried to be that, and perhaps that's one of the reasons it failed. Prince of Thieves is entertaining as hell. Was then, is now.

Just my opinion of course, and you are entitled to yours.

Honestly the one with the cartoon fox was more believable.

'More believable'? Not really. But that sure was a lot of fun too.

[–] 8 years ago

[deleted]

[–] saucyminxx 8 years ago

I've loved this movie since I was a kid. It's pure fun.

[–] dreaming-stranger 8 years ago

I wish I had watched it as a kid, I think I would have enjoyed it :(

Watching it as an adult however I just felt like it was all over the place, not quite getting anything right. I was shocked when I saw that it was nominated for and Oscar for its music. The whole way through I couldn't bear the music and thought it utterly ruined what was there to be enjoyed.

I thought the costumes were pretty good and the cinematography. The acting was appalling.

So that's my 2 cents.

[–] Ruztynail75 8 years ago

summer popcorn blockbuster great fun

[–] PacificPooch 8 years ago

There was a long thread on this board for years which discussed your question that now appears to have been purged. There were a lot of posters on the thread, including myself, commenting that when we went back to watch the film in recent years, it came nowhere near our childhood memories of the film.

As noted by others above, part of it is that this was one of the last films that employed the sensibility it did -- it didn't take itself very seriously, to the extent that the film was almost winking at us the whole time. The villains as you note, were played with a slightly comical element, rather than as full out sociopaths. This sensibility in action/adventure films essentially vanished from Hollywood in the 1990s, and it's somewhat jarring to go back and watch something like Prince of Thieves today.

Secondly, the other thing I noted when I rewatched the film after many years was how small and unimpressive some of the scenes were. Now it's again been some 5+ years since I rewatched the movie, but the two scenes I remember most starkly for being underwhelming are:
a) when Robin brings Marian to the camp for the first time, and she seems spellbound and says something like "Wow, you've been busy!". However, all we see are a handful of treehouses and a few dozen people, and

b) the climactic scene in the courtyard for the hanging (or whatever it was)...the courtyard is fairly small, and again, there's only a couple dozen people there. Compared to some of the amazing scenes we've seen in films that have come out in the years since Prince of Thieves, these scenes just pale in comparison.

NOW, all this said, I don't think the film is quite as bad as you suggest. But yes, despite being a historical adventure film, it hasn't held up well largely for the reasons I noted.