The Death of Robin Hood: He Didn’t Give to the Poor

Evidently, Robin Hood was really a hood. It is rather surprising that A24 and Northern Ireland Screen would be interested in deconstructing and de-legitimizing the legend of the highwayman who stole from the rich and gave to the poor. Nevertheless, the film they distributed and supported tells viewers in no uncertain terms that a “redistributionist” is really just a thief and eventually every thief becomes a thug. Consequently, the notorious outlaw left a lot of dead bodies in his wake, many of whom had family who still seek vengeance in director-screenwriter Michael Sarnoski’s The Death of Robin Hood, which releases Tuesday on VOD.

The old hood just can’t help himself. He is pretty sick of the world and his violent place in it, yet he still kills to survive the prologue’s naïve young vengeance-seeker. Most of his gang—and they really were a gang—have gone on to their just deserts, but Little John, now known as Edward, managed to retire and start a family. Of course, he did so by killing a man and assuming his identity and farmland. As it always happens in their Medieval society, the dead man’s kin inevitably came calling after discovering Little John’s crime, so he enlists Robin’s help to save his wife and daughter.

The battle is particularly brutal, even by the low standards of the era and the participants. Eventually, Little John deposits the gravely wounded Robin into the care of Sister Bridgid, the Prioress of St. Clement, on a remote isle that seems isolated in both time and space. Soon, Little John’s young daughter Margaret also must take shelter at St. Clement. Clearly, she suffers from traumatic shock, but she instinctively turns to Robin, since she associates him with her father. Although not normally a sentimentalist, he would prefer to protect her from Little John’s enemies, but Robin is not the outlaw he used to be.

With a title like The Death of Robin Hood, you have to expect a darker take on the legend. In this case, the film is sort of like Hugh Jackman’s Gran Torino, in which a hardened old man reluctantly seeks redemption late in life. In fact, it works surprisingly well on that level. Sort of like Don Quixote, it also explores how the subject of legends (in Robin Hood’s case, you could call it “fake news”) respond to the narratives they are supposed to live up to.

Arguably, Hugh Jackman is more ferocious as Robin Hood than he ever was as Wolverine. He also looks grizzled and gouty. To his credit, he fully commits to Robin’s unsavory persona, which makes his softening towards little Margaret surprisingly poignant. Similarly, Faith Delaney contributes one of the best youthful performances of the year as Little John’s emotionally distressed daughter.

Though he appears throughout the film under either bandages or heavy leprosy make-up, Murray Bartlett keenly expresses the film’s themes of regret, forgiveness, and redemption as Robin’s former enemy and fellow patient, Guy of Gisborne. Bill Skarsgård is appropriately thuggish as Little John, but a good deal of his dialogue is almost incomprehensible, due to his exaggerated accent.

Sarnoski belabors some of his points, but he earns kudos for having the guts to flip his script on the Robin Hood legend. A tighter cut would have better served his purposes, but the gritty performances are still undeniably riveting. One of the better and bolder attempts at cinematic deconstruction, The Death of Robin Hood hits VOD this Tuesday (7/21).