Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11516 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-07-01
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Formats: Anamorphic, Box set, PAL, Special Edition, Widescreen
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 148 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Kevin Costner's lousy English accent is a small obstacle in this often exciting version of the Robin Hood fable. That aside, it's refreshing to have a preface to the old story in which we meet the robber hero of Sherwood Forest as a soldier in King Richard's Crusades, coming home to find his people under siege from the cruelties of the Sheriff of Nottingham (Alan Rickman). After Robin and his community of outcasts and fighters take to the trees, director Kevin Reynolds (Fandango, 187) is on more familiar narrative ground, and he goes for the gusto with lots of original action (Robin shoots two arrows simultaneously from his bow in two directions). Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, as Marion, makes a convincing damsel in distress and Morgan Freeman brings dignity to his role as Robin's Moor friend. Alan Rickman, however, gets the most attention for his scene-chewing role as the rotten sheriff, an almost campy performance that is highly entertaining but perhaps a little out of sorts with the rest of the film. --Tom Keogh

Amazon.co.uk Review
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves reinvented the legend for contemporary cinema audiences, and in doing so far outstripped at the box office even Kevin Costner's own infinitely superior Dances with Wolves to become the biggest hit of 1991. It's an entertaining enough family adventure film, but plays like a big-budget TV movie with no distinctive flair for action or romance. (Director Kevin Reynolds would reunite with Costner four years later for the equally stodgy Waterworld). If the accents are all over the place, at least Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio makes a Maid Marion of ravishing Pre-Raphaelite beauty. Morgan Freeman is fine as Robin's Moorish sidekick, though, other than to expand the demographic, his character has no business being in the story. Realising that the whole enterprise has the credibility of a pantomime, Alan Rickman outrageously camps up his Sheriff of Nottingham, stealing the film in the process. Costner makes an acceptable hero, though he will never replace Errol Flynn in the definitive The Adventures of Robin Hood.

If you can accept explosives in 13th-century England, that the approach to Sherwood Forest is a modern conifer plantation and that the 170 miles from Dover to Nottingham is a matter of a few hours ride via Northumberland, then you may find much to enjoy here. Otherwise an already overlong film has been extended to an excessive 148 minutes in this special edition, making far too much of a not very good thing.

On the DVD: Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is presented as a two-disc set, with a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer that is generally good looking but with an occasionally soft picture and some evidence of dirt and minor print damage. The Dolby Digital 5.1 remix of the original stereo soundtrack is atmospheric and powerful and shows off Michael Kamen's score to its best. Though presented with 12 minutes of footage not seen in the cinema version, the film still suffers most of the cuts (amounting to 28 seconds) imposed by the BBFC over the years.

The main extras are a pair of commentaries: Costner and Reynolds discuss the film in frank and enthusiastic detail, while on a second track Freeman, Slater, writer/producer Pen Densham and cowriter/producer John Watson offer a great deal of insight plus a fair bit of stating the obvious, backslapping and critic bashing. Robin Hood: The Myth, the Man, the Movie (31 mins) is a cut version of a 45-minute TV special originally broadcast in America the night before the premiere, and offers an interesting if brief look at the Robin Hood story plus some routine making-of material. Finally, there is a video of Bryan Adams performing "Everything I Do, I Do It for You" live at Slane Castle and 18 minutes worth of bland electronic presskit-style archive interviews with Costner, Freeman, Mastrantonio, Slater and Alan Rickman, plus the original American trailer, a stills gallery and cast and crew list. --Gary S Dalkin

DVD Description
It was a time of tyrants: the only way to uphold the truth was to break the law. He fought for the good of all men and for the love of just one woman. Kevin Costner brings the epic hero Robin Hood to life in a film filled with pageantry, intrigue, action and romance. With an outstanding cast including Morgan Freeman, Alan Rickman, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Christian Slater, record-breaking theme song and film production on a sweeping scale, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves has become a legend in its own right.

Customer Reviews

Gorgeous Kev!
Being a Kevin Costner fan I am rather biased, but I really enjoy seeing this film over and over again! A small clue as to the number of times I've seen it, is that you start noticing slight errors - e.g. when Kevin is catapulted over the wall he picks up a sword; then all the peasants push the portculis up, and a bloke picks up....the same sword! Told you I'd seen it a lot! Kevin Costner is extra-cheeky in this film, especially when smacking Mary Elizabeth on the bum - a nice touch when Guy of Gisbourne remarks on him not taking her virtue just afterwards! But the two best performances in the film have to be Morgan Freeman's: "No man controls my destiny, especially not one who attacks down-wind and stinks of garlic!" and Alan Rickman's: (when asked why he will cut out Robin's heart with a spoon) "because it's dull you twit, it'll hurt more! " Hilarious entertainment, well worth watching over and over....you get the picture!

Age old story cleverly brought to life.
If you can put up with Kevin Costner trying to do an English accent then this is a very good film. Alan Rickman steals the show as the evil Sheriff of Nottingham. There's romance and a fair bit of action, but also the age old story of Robin Hood that is cleverly brought to life in a good motion picture.

Worth buying
I would think that everyone has seen Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves by now. It's a great film, and it's got Alan Rickman in which is always a bonus.

The extras on the DVD are slightly disapointing, disapointing in that there arn't any (apart from the usual interactive menus and language options), but then again it is an old film so it's to be expected.

In conclusion I would recomend Robin Hood to anyone, a worthy adition to anyone's collection.