Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Director Kevin Reynolds has difficulty stitching his material together and imparting to it a workable rhythmic scheme, making it more than once seem earthbound. This isn't the Robin Hood it could have been. Its pulse is too erratic. Still, it does give us a handsome and often entertaining new take on Sherwood Forest's most famous straight arrow. [14 June 1991, p.29]

As a piece of escapism, this deluxe, action-heavy, 2-hour-and-21-minute Robin Hood gets the job done. You’re carried along by plot, production values, and some choice supporting actors. Yet it’s a rouser without a rousing hero. Costner doesn’t disgrace himself — he has the star presence the role demands. What he’s not is an impassioned Robin Hood. And without the sense that Robin is on a humanistic mission (one that’s a pleasure to fulfill), the story has no charge. Read full review

Reynolds, who directed the little-seen but brilliantly realized The Beast , makes the camera his plaything in Prince of Thieves. This makes the movie at times obnoxious -- he repeatedly jams the lens into the bad guys' faces -- but most of it is highly watchable. Reynolds captures the dark and dank stuff better than Tim Burton did in Batman , and the action sequences thrust and cut across the screen. [14 June 1991, p.G5]

You cheer the good guys, gasp at the cliffhangers, hiss the villains and leave the theater with an old-fashioned sense of satisfaction. It may not be great filmmaking -- it's certainly not for purists -- but it's definitely good fun. [24 June 1991, p.60]

Except for the political implications of the addition of Freeman's character (which he brings off gracefully) and some revisionism about the nobility of the crusades (which, in my opinion, is long overdue), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is just an adventure movie - which is basically what I like about it. The second half is stronger than the first because it's swifter and more action-packed. Robin's feats of derring-do are always (as Costner might put it) neat - the more improbable, the better. Read full review

Kevin Costner's Robin Hood is big, sometimes exciting, funny in places and occasionally stupid, but it doesn't disappoint. [14 June 1991, p.E1]

Dodgy history and dodgier accents, but Kevin Costner's medieval romp still has some magic – and shouldn't be judged on the weakness of its imitators. Read full review

Despite the miscasting of the central role and quite a lot of lackluster dialogue, the story proves again to be almost foolproof. The fight sequences are explosive, the physical production is impressive, and the supporting performances are full of juice. Read full review

To its credit, the film isn't foolhardy enough to challenge the unbeatable Errol Flynn version on its own star-power turf. Gritty in most ways, broadly comic in some, and with a dose of the morbidly supernatural, this is a knowing variation at odds with quaint vintage-Hollywood reverence. [14 June 1991, p.1D]

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves looks like big money. It has the stars, it's based on a classic (and foolproof) story and it's an exhilarating couple of hours. It fills the entertainment megabill utterly. Read full review