Frequently Bought Together
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Product details
|
Reviews
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
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Blu-ray
The film is great - a really fun swashbuckler and just as good as I remembered it.
It's great to see this film uncut for the first time in the UK since it was in the cinemas - this 12 cert version is a full 18 years overdue!
Note though that this is the extended version of the film, with roughly an extra 12 minutes of footage. Personally, I'd have preferred the theatrical version - or the choice of both (this is blu ray after all).
The transfer quality is not the best, but is perfectly adequate, and there's a decent selection of special features too.
The menus are a bit basic, but I view this as a good thing as it keeps the useful resume functionality (enabling you to stop the film and pick up from where you left off - as you can with DVDs), which is a function sorely missing from blu ray discs with flashier interfaces.
On the whole then, a great addition to your collection, especially if you don't own it already on DVD.
It's great to see this film uncut for the first time in the UK since it was in the cinemas - this 12 cert version is a full 18 years overdue!
Note though that this is the extended version of the film, with roughly an extra 12 minutes of footage. Personally, I'd have preferred the theatrical version - or the choice of both (this is blu ray after all).
The transfer quality is not the best, but is perfectly adequate, and there's a decent selection of special features too.
The menus are a bit basic, but I view this as a good thing as it keeps the useful resume functionality (enabling you to stop the film and pick up from where you left off - as you can with DVDs), which is a function sorely missing from blu ray discs with flashier interfaces.
On the whole then, a great addition to your collection, especially if you don't own it already on DVD.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I liked the Robin Hood film because it was entertaining, funny and exciting. My favourite character was the Sheriff of Nottingham because although he is mean and evil, I thought he was funny. My opinion is that the film was great. Robin Hood has a group of friends they call themselves The Merry Men. These characters are Robin's friends Friar Tuck, Little John, Maid Marion, the King and Wilf a little boy. Robin Hood and the Merry Men live in deep damp Sherwood Forest. The Sheriff lives in a big castle with lots of guards to stop you from getting in the castle. The Sheriff's gang also have lots of weapons used for fighting their enemies. I give this film 4/5. It is a brilliant film, so try watching it today. It is fabulous so remember buy it and try it!
By Poppy Gevaux
Year 3 pupil
Hilldene Primary School
By Poppy Gevaux
Year 3 pupil
Hilldene Primary School
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
It's Hollywood, not Sherwood, with Kevin Costner's Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves fighting injustice in his quest to make England free for those who can't actually speak the language, armed only with his trusty longbow, a dubious accent ("This is English courage" gets a big laugh every time), a fluctuating waistline and an unerringly bad sense of direction. "Come, by nightfall we will dine at my father's castle," he says to his Muslim sidekick Azem (Morgan Freeman). Not when you land in Dover you won't. And Hadrian's Wall is NOT "but five miles" from Nottingham. Sorry, Kev.
You have to look a long way down the credits to find an English actor, unless you count the villains, with Alan Rickman's Sheriff so far over the top that he's back again, leaving you with the impression that Costner's controversial decision to cut many of his scenes had more to do with restraint than pique. With Christian I-Want-to-be-Jack-Nicholson-when-I-grow-up Slater in the cast, you can forgiven for fearing the film will turn into Surf Saxons Must Die, and British writers Pen Densham and John Watson do display a healthy contempt for their heritage and history. No-one actually says it, but you know they're thinking "screw history, let's blow something up," and, indeed, the script manages to pull of the twin feat of giving a logical reason for Robin having a black sidekick and getting lots of explosions into a medieval adventure, although they don't quite manage to convince you that their Robin truly is modelled after the Tim Holt character in The Magnificent Ambersons.
Neither Errol Flynn's definitive adventure nor Sean Connery and Richard Lester's brilliantly melancholy interpretation have anything to worry about, with the film falling between the two stools and offering political correctness instead of revisionism and opting for pure adventure with the trimmings of gritty historical realism brushed aside whenever it threatens to get in the way.
The biggest problem is that the scars of a messy and acrimonious production (seven credited producers, no less) are all too visible. Kevin Reynolds' direction lacks the punch of his earlier and unfairly overlooked The Beast of War or even his bonkers Rapa Nui, with some uncomfortable medium shots and the unsteadiest Steadicam work in cinema history, while subplots such as the black magic element are thrown away after the early scenes. On the plus side, Michael Kamen's score is his most enjoyable and exciting, John Bloomfield's costumes are terrific, Doug Milsome's photography almost camouflages the bad weather and some of the action scenes are well handled, although it's hard to imagine anyone here giving Basil Rathbone or even Robert Shaw too much trouble in a swordfight.
While the 2-disc edition has some okay but fairly low-calorie extras, the film itself - aswith all previous editions - is cut by the BBFC: in this case some 26 seconds of censor cuts.
You have to look a long way down the credits to find an English actor, unless you count the villains, with Alan Rickman's Sheriff so far over the top that he's back again, leaving you with the impression that Costner's controversial decision to cut many of his scenes had more to do with restraint than pique. With Christian I-Want-to-be-Jack-Nicholson-when-I-grow-up Slater in the cast, you can forgiven for fearing the film will turn into Surf Saxons Must Die, and British writers Pen Densham and John Watson do display a healthy contempt for their heritage and history. No-one actually says it, but you know they're thinking "screw history, let's blow something up," and, indeed, the script manages to pull of the twin feat of giving a logical reason for Robin having a black sidekick and getting lots of explosions into a medieval adventure, although they don't quite manage to convince you that their Robin truly is modelled after the Tim Holt character in The Magnificent Ambersons.
Neither Errol Flynn's definitive adventure nor Sean Connery and Richard Lester's brilliantly melancholy interpretation have anything to worry about, with the film falling between the two stools and offering political correctness instead of revisionism and opting for pure adventure with the trimmings of gritty historical realism brushed aside whenever it threatens to get in the way.
The biggest problem is that the scars of a messy and acrimonious production (seven credited producers, no less) are all too visible. Kevin Reynolds' direction lacks the punch of his earlier and unfairly overlooked The Beast of War or even his bonkers Rapa Nui, with some uncomfortable medium shots and the unsteadiest Steadicam work in cinema history, while subplots such as the black magic element are thrown away after the early scenes. On the plus side, Michael Kamen's score is his most enjoyable and exciting, John Bloomfield's costumes are terrific, Doug Milsome's photography almost camouflages the bad weather and some of the action scenes are well handled, although it's hard to imagine anyone here giving Basil Rathbone or even Robert Shaw too much trouble in a swordfight.
While the 2-disc edition has some okay but fairly low-calorie extras, the film itself - aswith all previous editions - is cut by the BBFC: in this case some 26 seconds of censor cuts.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Most Recent Customer Reviews
A typical travesty of a n English story
The scenery is superb BUT if you like your Robin Hood to follow the typical plot then this isn't for you! Read more
Published 18 days ago by Dr. B. A. Juby
Great Film
Very good movie, Kevin Costner and Morgan Freemen are two very good actors, soundtrack also excellent well worth a watch.
Published 1 month ago by Rosebud
Robin Hood Prince of Thieves
My Wife and self are 75yrs.old but we still enjoy a good romantic and exciting film, and "Robin Hood Prince of thieves" IS JUST THAT from begining to end, and its quite a tear... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mr. K. W. Stone
Awful quality
A very disappointing purchase. Poor quality picture, dark and fuzzy and the sound indifferent. The DVD also keeps on stopping and starting. Looks like a pirate to me.
Published 5 months ago by Mr. N. J. Murphy
"This is English Courage"
I love this movie so much, it's hard to say anything bad in my review. In this case, I am reviewing the BluRay edition of the movie. Read more
Published 13 months ago by Mr. Joseph G. Black
Alright me old cocker!
One of those film's that is used as a stick to beat Kevin Costner around the head with, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves was made for $48 million and went on to make a Worldwide... Read more
Published 15 months ago by Spike Owen
Nice two hours!
I bought the movie because I love the setting and the period in itself.
I know it's nothing accurate but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Read more
I know it's nothing accurate but it was enjoyable nonetheless. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Simona Danila Ferrai
Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (2 Disc Special Edition) [DVD] [1991]
i've loved this film since the first time that i saw it. the best robin hood film ever made.Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves (2 Disc Special Edition) [DVD] [1991]
Published 17 months ago by mark strangward
My all-time favourite!
I have watched this film several times every year since I first saw it, and I love it more each time. Read more
Published 20 months ago by kana
Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Ive always loved this version of Robin Hood. Absolutley brilliant, from start to finish. Alan Rickman is oscar winning in his role.
Published 22 months ago by film fan 66
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
![[Start the discussion]](http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/02/x-locale/communities/discussion_boards/start-new-discussion-sec._V192198663_.gif){kind=small}
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
