Robin Hood (2018)  ★★★

AS USUAL, remakes and reboots have been a mixed bag this year.

So far we’ve had Suspiria and Widows – both excellent, Halloween – very good, The Girl in the Spider’s Web – flawed but entertaining, Death Wish – a disappointment and The Predator – a mess.

Apart from Suspria, which has an added hour of material, most of these are standard stuff.

But when you try something considered radically different, such as last year’s Guy Ritchie version of King Arthur,  be prepared for the criticism.

Now comes Robin Hood and the critics are again baying for blood.

Faced with making the 28th version of a Robin Hood story since 1908, English television director Otto Bathurst has tried to refresh the classic story with elements of modern warfare and subtexts on wealth distribution, gender politics and institutional abuse.

The problem with introducing these elements is that they don’t sit comfortably with a throw-away adventure. They’re interesting asides, but don’t really go anywhere.

For example, Maid Marion is initially established as a strong character, but falls by the wayside. And the Sheriff of Nottingham is giving an extremely interesting back-story involving his treatment at the hands of the church, but also drops back to familiar character traits.

Overall though, the film is entertaining and moves at a cracking pace.

From the outset a voice-over explains this isn’t the usual Robin Hood story, so there’s little reason to make comparisons.

I liked the Crusades sequence with Robin Hood’s group resembling a marine unit in Iraq, stealthily working their way through a ruined castle in formation with bows drawn, before coming under fire from a sniper armed with a giant, semi-automatic crossbow.

There are similar, mash-up action sequences, well executed under the guidance of veteran British stuntman Simon Crane, that will equally annoy traditionalists and entertain those who just want a good time at the movies.

I like Taron Egerton, but unfortunately he labours under the script to instill the required charisma for the lead character. He doesn’t reach the heights of Douglas Fairbanks, Errol Flynn, Kevin Costner and even Russell Crowe.

The 2001 Costner film of course featured the greatest version of the Sheriff of Nottingham, courtesy of the late Alan Rickman. There was never any doubt that Australia’s Ben Mendelsohn was going to come a close second and his scenes are worth the price of admission alone, particularly with the back-story adding a different twist on his invective.

In fact all the evil doers, Mendelsohn’s Sheriff, F Murray Abraham as the Cardinal and Ian Peck as the Arch Deacon, would have made an intriguing period drama on their own.

Eve Hewson as Marion, Jamie Foxx as John, Jamie Dornan as Will and Tim Minchin as Tuck complete the interesting cast, with perhaps Michin making the most impact.

Certainly a flawed version, but entertaining all the same.