The story draws its inspiration from the medieval ballad A Gest of Robyn Hode<\/a>, the last section of which is titled \u201cDeath of Robin Hood\u201d where the outlaw visits the Prioress of Kirklees. The ailing Robin goes there for treatment because the Prioress is his kin, but she and her lover are actually plotting to kill him. Sarnoski\u2019s film keeps the idea of Robin Hood going to a priory for healing but otherwise reworks and demystifies the entire legend of the English folk hero. <\/p>\n This Robin Hood \u2013 played with solemn intensity by a never-hairier Hugh Jackman<\/a> \u2013 is no altruistic hero but rather a vicious, thieving nomad who freely admits that all the stories about him are myths, most of which don\u2019t even have a kernel of truth to them. There was never a Maid Marian, he robbed from the rich and the poor alike, and he killed women and children.<\/p>\n Like Unforgiven\u2019s William Munny, Jackman\u2019s Robin Hood is a grizzled killer haunted by an unimaginably violent past that continues to chase him. He\u2019s killed so many people over the years that there is always someone’s relative hunting him down \u2013 no matter how far in the hills he hides \u2013 to avenge their fallen loved one. Robin is old and tired and, frankly, death would be a gift, yet he keeps killing those who pursue him. Despite the bouts of sudden and often senseless violence, there\u2019s a haunting silence that permeates the entire film, an audible loneliness, if you will, that captures Robin\u2019s isolation from the society he\u2019s wronged.<\/p>\n The only member of the Merry Men who appears in this film is Little John (a barely recognizable Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd, employing yet another of his signature weird, guttural voices). It\u2019s been many years since Robin and Little John last saw each other, with the latter living a relatively content life under an assumed name with a wife and child who are unaware of his wicked past. Now his family are in peril so Little John enlists the aid of his former leader (and surrogate father figure) to save them and exact vengeance. <\/p>\n The Most Famous Movie and TV Characters Who’ve Met Robin Hood Both men end up getting far more than they bargained for, with Robin suffering grave injuries in the ensuing battle. In order to save his life, Little John delivers Robin to the film\u2019s version of the priory from A Gest of Robyn Hode, whose prioress is renowned for her healing abilities. <\/p>\n The prioress, Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer, at her most tender), nurses Robin\u2019s wounds, but the longer he stays there and becomes acquainted with its community, the more his soul might be rehabilitated as well. There\u2019s a stillness to both Sister Brigid and to the priory itself that lends an appropriate serenity to this portion of the film where Robin tries to reclaim his humanity.<\/p>\n Robin\u2019s bond with Sister Brigid and a traumatized little girl named Margaret (a compelling Faith Delaney) is the emotional crux of the film and is its most effective and rewarding aspect, lending a much needed humanity to an otherwise savage and seemingly irredeemable Robin Hood. Robin also has a compelling friendship with an enigmatic leper (a moving Murray Bartlett, who barely ever shows his face), who also helps the outlaw inch closer to the light.<\/p>\n The Death of Robin Hood ably mixes the meditative myth-busting of Unforgiven, the medieval ultra-violence of The Northman, and the dreary Celtic aesthetic of The Green Knight. Yet the film also benefits to a large degree from the enduring memory of Jackman\u2019s other, better \u201cviolent badass cursed by his past\u201d film, Logan (a comparison Sarnoski understands people will make<\/a>). Instead of adamantium claws, he uses a knife and a bow and arrow to eviscerate his foes. While that doesn\u2019t diminish Jackman\u2019s performance as Robin Hood, I could never quite shake the knowledge that I\u2019ve seen him do this all before.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Death of Robin Hood will be released in theaters on June 19. Robin Hood and Little John,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":634529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-634528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/634529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n