Robin Hood is not a must-see film. It is a wait for DVD type movie. Unfortunately it plays down or removes entirely the class conflict elements of the legend in favor of LOTR style battle sequences and storyline. Ridiculous. The whole point of the legend is that these were common men standing up against tyranny and the rich. Without that the movie is just an interesting exercise in medieval battle techniques that I could have watched on the History channel or Spike TV.

A somewhat intriguing taming of the shrew type story between Robin and Maid Marian starts fitfully but is not very convincing. And Robin's most famous companions-Little John, Will Scarlett and Alan O'Dale are mostly reduced to bit players with little to do and no stories of their own.

The French are the main baddies in the film ,which again, assiduously works to play up a theme of nationalism instead of any sort of "little man standing for what's right". Given that Richard the Lion Heart, King of England, primarily spoke French, had spent very little time in England during his reign and had just about as much land in France as he did in England, the nationalistic element feels forced.

Primarily the movie is about how the man became Robin Hood, and not his exploits as Robin Hood, which is okay but probably should have been a different film. Max Von Sydow, Cate Blanchett, Kevin Durand and Danny Huston also star.