The Death of Robin Hood (2026) - Strong Idea Stretched Too Thin - REVIEW

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The Death of Robin Hood has a good idea along with Hugh Jackman buried in it somewhere, but two hours of slow serious drama is a lot to carry and the movie just does not have enough meat on that idea to pull it off, it was interesting showing a different perspective from a character that everyone imagines young and heoric, but that also the movie turn upside down. This Robin is old, tired, angry and already knows the famous stories about him are lies. A hungry traveler calls Robin Hood a good man, so he tells her the ugly truth, a robber and a killer, then kills her when she comes at him, a smart way to open things since it kills off any signs of him as a hidden hero, plus a village massacre he later joins with Little John even knowing it could be his last fight, is why the movie proves he is awful from the very start before you start to get any reason to care what happens to him. Hugh Jackman really sells the physical weight on Robin, you can tell someone hurt this guy or something if not life itself, he is been through hell and back, specially once he gets badly hurt and is clearly pissed that Little John saved him, but after a while the anger and the rough voice and that worn out stare stop feeling like Robin Hood and start feeling like Jackman just doing Wolverine again, you put both characters side by side and they so similar so are we just watching Logan laying on a bed without claws and a costume? cosplaying a bizzare version of Robin Hood?. I kept waiting for the script to give Robin more than just another old killer who wants to die already, and the performance keeps him watchable because after all is Hugh Jackman, not my favorite actor but got to say he is a hell of an actor, but the character is still hard to sell, at least this is how I see it when the movie shows you everything he has done without really getting into why he turned into this guy or why he might actually change now.

• IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32273171/
• Platform: {{PLATFORM}}

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I get why they slow things down once Robin reaches the island, but this is also where the movie starts feeling empty for the most part, it feels stuck and draggy, making it boring and you start wondering if anything significant is going to happen. Sister Brigid treats him while he goes by the name Randolph, Little Margaret shows up after her father dies, and Robin slowly becomes part of this small community, a guy who solved every problem through killing for years now surrounded by people who feed him, heal him and expect nothing back, its just like the perfect place to bounce back and really find some meaning in life, probably even making him think twice about how wrong he was. He starts growing this protective feeling and care for Margaret that matters more than another speech about regret, there is plenty regretting time trust me, he makes her a bow, teaches the kids practical skills and protects her when Godwyn comes looking for revenge, choices that show he can do something decent without pretending his past disappeared. This change of heart and mindset is just too predictable and made me felt that the script never does anything significatn enough to actually feel like the movie earns that change of thought, the second half has this long pauses, quiet moments, nature shots that even though the scenery is great you expecting more of something else, there is lot of talk about guilt and faith and peace and death that goes around in circles instead of moving forward or somewhere, anyewhere but there, something new, and the countryside looks great but that mood alone cannot do the job character work is supposed to do. Jackman does a lot just with his body language and silence, you can see Robin being uncomfortable around kindness, but the writing keeps leaving him stuck in that same spot, tired, waiting to be punished, not believing he deserves a future. I got that about him early on, so watching the movie keep repeating it at this slow pace made a bunch of scenes feel longer than they needed to be.

Jodie Comer comes in and gives the movie a sense of perfect balance because Sister Brigid has strength without copying the anger everyone else carries since Robin character carries that anger everytime he is on screen. She believes in healing, faith and the life she has built, but she is never describe or behaves as some simple saint who comes into the story only to forgive Robin, and her talks about language, order and chaos get heavy and draggy at times, but Comer sells them like thoughts this woman has actually lived through. She also gives the quieter scenes real warmth, which matters since the movie spends so much time in silence and Im glad the connection between Brigid and Robin never turns into a full blown romance because that would also be so predictable to make things worst, but their relationship works better as two damaged adults who still hide part of themselves, reminds me of Shogun secret heart. The leper is another strong piece here, Robin gets close to the guy without realizing he once cut the ear off that man and left him alive, and when the leper finally reveals who he is and calls this the other life Robin once talked about, that moment ment a lot because the forgiveness comes from someone Robin hurt directly and it gives Robin a real reason to stay quiet about who he is, since this leper knows Robin destroyed the family Brigid used to have, the more you watch the movie it gives you that sense of what a monster he was. These are some of the best scenes in the movie but they also point at the bigger problem, the supporting characters carry these ideas way than Robin does, I get its meant to be but feels like none really affect Robin, you really need to get into the drama to feel it, so for the average viewer its just wortless because everything feels hidden behind something else, so his move toward honesty ends up feeling like something their kindness did for him instead of a change the movie actually built from inside him, sorry if I got too dramatic.

The idea about stories and fake heroes is a good one, but the movie just keeps hammering on it without having great impact to the story and feels like a joke that has lost its effect and people just keep repeating it because it was once great. Robin flat out admits he robbed people for himself and killed because he wanted to, while everyone else keeps repeating the nicer version about taking from the rich and giving to the poor, and Little John built his whole life on a lie too, killing a man named Edward and taking over his identity, raising Margaret and Little Margaret like they were always his own family. That idea had so much impact the moment Godwyn shows up at the priory planning to punish Little Margaret for what her father did, Robin could easily kill him and keep the same cycle going, but instead sends him away and tells him to stop, one of the only times he actually rejects the person he used to be, but again this change of mind feels force. He does not earn forgiveness through a big speech or a heroic fight, he just refuses to create another dead kid and another family looking for revenge later. My problem is some surrounding details are harder to follow than they should be, stuff about the stolen identity and how much his wife Margaret actually knew never gets fully clear and we dont get much context about or I would say enough context, its a trust me bro situation. Uncertainty works when Robin can no longer separate truth from lies, because that confusion reflects his damaged state of mind and makes us question how much of his past he and we can trust. But the relationships around him still need to have a clear foundation, and this way we should understand who these people are to him, what history they share and why they feel loyalty, anger, fear, or any kind affection toward him. This is what makes me felt lost because the writing did not explain those connections well enough, not because the movie was deliberately hiding something interesting, it just didnt period.

The ending works better for me than most of that slow middle section because Robin finally starts making choices instead of waiting around to die. He tells Sister Brigid he caused the fire that killed her husband and her kids, even after the leper asked him to protect her from ever finding out and I get why he confesses, but part of me thinks he is also dumping another burden on her because he wants relief before he dies. Her response is not simple forgiveness. She confronts him about the fire that killed her husband and both of her children years ago, and for a moment it feels like she may refuse to save him, thats what anyone watching the movie would expect. During all this going on he is hurt badly and bleeding to the point this might be his last moments, so Robin asks Bridget to let him die rather than close the wound. She then admits that the grief he caused pushed her toward the healing life she leads now, and this is something that happens a lot, people get stronger to the point the appreciate way more those hard moments, though she never claims that this excuses what he did. Robin asks her to let him go and Brigid does not close the wound, a quiet death that fits the movie better than a final fight, even if I am not totally sure he earned that peaceful exit. His last moment with Little Margaret works well too, he gives her a kinder version of her father, tells her Little John loved her and helps her shoot the bow he made, the arrow going without holding on matching what Robin is finally doing with his own life. Through all this its clear the movie touches and shoots for themes of redemption, faith, love and legends more than it deals with any of it, but its the cast, countryside and music give it real quality and thats something cant be denied, and while I respect that it refuses to make Robin the hero everybody expects, I wish the writing gave his change more actual life instead of so much waiting around. There is a really good movie somewhere inside this one but you got to really get into the drama side and thats too much asking and too complex for a character we are use to watch in a single flat direction that is Robbin Hood, the guy who steal from the rich to give out to the poor, this movie is one of those radical concepts that sound cool but the execution is the problem.

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Rating: 65/100