Oh, and then there is the wife of the dead knight to contend with, too. Enter Cate Blanchett as Marian Loxley. She has been waiting for her husband to return for a loooong time and doesn’t take to Robin at first, but guess what? He grows on her. Shocking, I know.

So Robin settles in and then notices that the people are not being treated fairly by the crown. He and his boys steal grain from the church so that Marian can feed her people. England under the new King John is just way too much taxing and things are bleak all around. The next thing you know, the French are invading with lots of help from the evil Godfrey. And meanwhile, the nobles are up in arms and ready to revolt. Robin steps up at just the right time, has the temperament to rally the troops behind King John, and ultimately through an amazing sense of leadership on the battlefield, keeps England safe. But King John really wanted to be the hero and resents Robin, making him an outlaw and beginning the real legend of Robin Hood what with all the robbing the rich, living in the woods, merry men of it all.

Robin Hood isn’t bad. It just isn’t rousing. And Russell isn’t bad to look at. He just isn’t given the script or the costumes from Gladiator which it definitely feels a lot like, though it lacks its dramatic power. If you really have a hankering for a movie that shows extremely realistic 12th century military tactics, then run, don’t walk to your nearest Cineplex. Otherwise, wait for the DVD. It is worth a watch, just maybe not in a theater.