Robin Hood is one of those characters who have been covered so many times in Hollywood history that they've been diminished to mere taglines. Like Superman and "truth, justice and the American way," Robin Hood is immediately associated with "rob from the rich and give to the poor." Everyone's heard this story before and there aren't going to be any surprises.
It doesn't matter if Robin Hood is played by a fox or a man in tights, he can't be anything other than what he's been for centuries, an outlaw working for the cause of social justice. He's a character that has to maintain a sort of consistency with our expectations. For Robin Hood to become a reluctant hero or to be given a tragic flaw would be like if Superman started to suddenly brood like Batman - it just doesn't go with his character as a good guy fighting for a noble cause.
In that respect, the producers of the BBC's updating of the Robin Hood legend, created by BBC in 2006 and recently debuting on American televisions on BBC America, have done a commendable job. The story remains unchanged from the one most viewers remember from childhood storybooks or Disney movies, but with some substantial, and ultimately crippling, revisions.
Robin, returning home from the Crusades, finds his home, Locksley, overrun by the corrupt Sheriff of Nottingham. He then sets out to make things right again. Rob from the rich, give to poor - nothing new here.
This adaptation does attempt to add some new wrinkles to the well-known character, however. The most noticeable is Robin's newfound sensitivity. In the second episode, "Sheriff Got Your Tongue," Robin has escaped from the sheriff's prison and a looming death sentence and has the sheriff in his grasp. The sheriff eggs on Robin to try to kill an unarmed man and Robin proves unable to do anything.
While it would be just as jarring to see Robin Hood exterminate the sheriff with extreme prejudice like a Stallone hero, it's just as unbelievable to see the sheriff and Robin engage in a half-hearted psychological melodrama. Robin Hood traditionally never deals with these stodgy matters of life and death, preferring to operate with wit and a flippant, irreverent attitude. He'd never even contemplate killing the sheriff - he's the type of character who'd rather embarrass him.
Thanks to the success of "Spiderman" (2002) and "Batman Begins" (2005), there has been a trend to portray superheroes as having some debilitating flaw. The focus has moved away from their almost otherworldly compulsion for good deeds to their constant guilt and grappling with responsibility. Sometimes this is just unnecessary, and "Robin Hood" is one of those cases. The wiry, sullen Jonas Armstrong doesn't effectively communicate Robin's traditional humor or this new, forced sensitivity, leaving the audience with a scraggly looking guy we're supposed to assume is a magnetic, charming hero.
The other new addition is the reflection of modern events in this age old tale. Robin's just come back from a long war in the Middle East, questioning the motives of his years of fighting, only to find that everything has changed for the worse at home. If you need the clear parallels explained, maybe you should read the paper a little more often. While the show is trying to add some heft to the familiar story, it comes across feeling overdone and unnecessary.
If there is one resounding reflection of the Abu Ghraib Age in "Robin Hood," it's the sadistic sheriff. Keith Allen plays the sheriff with a gleeful evilness, portraying the kind of uncomplicated bad guy that's hard to come across these days. When trying to extract Robin's locations from the villagers, the Sheriff of Nottingham gets out his scissors and starts clipping off tongues. It's the kind of torture only Jack Bauer could love.
While these complaints might hinge on the viewers' expectations for the character of Robin Hood, the one undeniable fault of the series is its production value. Scenes in the town look like the gathering of some costumed enthusiast at a Renaissance fair. When Robin and Little John are walking through the forest, it could have been filmed in a particularly remote corner of a park by some students for a filmmaking class, not a major production in the forests of Hungary.
"Robin Hood" falls into the category of about 80 percent of what's on television. It's not awful, it's definitely not good and, once it's over, you've pretty much forgotten what you've watched.
