Product Description

Kevin Costner, Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater, Alan Rickman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio Directors: Kevin Reynolds

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #4931 in DVD
• Released on: 2009-05-25
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .19 pounds
• Running time: 148 minutes

Synopsis
A reworking of the legend of Robin Hood (Kevin Costner) telling of his adventures following his escape and return to England from the Crusades. With an indebted Moor (Morgan Freeman) by his side, Robin sets out to avenge his father's death and to save the peasants in the Shire of Nottingham from their crafty, cunning sheriff. Full of action, romance, intrigue, laughs and medieval childbirth, this film hit the bullseye at the box-office and features the record-breaking hit song '(Everything I Do) I Do It for You' performed by Bryan Adams and a stand-out pantomime performance by Alan Rickman as the evil Sheriff of Nottingham who wants to Cancel Christmas.

Customer Reviews

Americanised Classic British Tale
Who can forget Robin Hood Prince of Thieves, in particular that song which dominated the music charts for months and we were sick to the back teeth of hearing on the radio. It's been many years since I watched the movie until the Blu-Ray release came along. The first thing that strikes home is that the plot actually sticks much closer to the Robin Hood "canon" than the recent eponomyous BBC series. However the whole thing is just way over Americanised. No one expects a mainstream movie of this type to be spoken in Old English and the use of modern day idiom is accepted, but within reason! The cast make little attempt to disquise their American accents and Mary Elizabeth Mastronio's "Cheers" at one point is cringeworthy. It's as if she fluffed her lines and the Director forgot to take it out. Morgan Freeman does a reasonable job as Hood's fictional Moorish companian Azeem, however the rest of the Americans seem to struggle with the parts. Christian Slater plays his brooding teen from Heathers and you half expect him to turn round with his coat-bomb. Kevin Costner just plays his buffoonish self, no different to Bull Durham, Field of Dreams or Dances... The British cast members supplying the peasantry play their parts as a kind of over exaggerated medieval chavs with "mateys" and "I loiks a good 'angin' " aplenty, almost if they were anxious to compensate for the singular lack of Britishness from Costner et al.

Of course, Alan Rickman steals just about every scene he appears in, hamming it up as if his life depended on it. The dependable Michael Wincott's Guy of Gisborne is sadly killed off a bit too early - "Well at least I didn't use a spoon", being one of my favourite quotes from the movie.

Still notwithstanding the above, it was worth watching again and the Blu-Ray disc offers slightly better picture and sound than the DVD and way better if you still have it on VHS tape.

Outstanding
An excellent rendering of this top-class film. Worth buying, even if you own the regular DVD as the extended cut adds a lot to the feel of the piece, especially the story of the Sheriff and the witch. I wouldn't buy it if you have the extended cut on DVD though, as the quality improvement is not substantial enough to warrant it.

Well worth the price on Amazon.

Not worth buying if you have DVD
I cannot see any difference in the "old" DVD & this bluray. Having a bluray receiver, with the 7.1 set up etc etc, I don't know why I bothered, as I had just as good sound etc from my old set up. Not really worth buying but still enjoyable film.

Until they can find a way to utilise the 7.1 set up on "old films" - keep your old DVD's