Robin Hood

Disillusioned archer Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) and his band of chancers abandon the Crusade and head for home following the death of King Richard, somehow managing to rescue the dead king's crown from the hands of the marauding French en route. Masquerading as knights, they take the crown back home, planning to hang up their bows for good. But first Robin must fulfil a promise made to a dying knight to return his sword to his estranged father. Enter Max von Sydow as the lovable Sir Walter, who persuades Robin to assume his dead son's identity to prevent the lands being lost to the Crown upon his death. The dead man also has a widow, Marion (Cate Blanchett) – talk about landing on your feet – but good men never succeed as noblemen in ye England of olde, and Robin inevitably gets up the new King John's (Oscar Isaac's) nose.

This new angle breathes new life into Sherwood Forest, although the plot is messy and the film over-long. The performances are solid but generally unremarkable with Blanchett and Crowe turning in bizarre anything-but-Australian accents and the cast ultimately being let down by their characters. Marion begins as a ballsy heroine struggling to feed her people but ends up an annoying damsel in distress. The bland band of merry men are upstaged by the baddies but even King John's cockiness falls a little flat and the smutty Sheriff (Matthew Macfadyen) hints at a comic villainy that is never fully realised as treacherous Godfrey (Mark Strong) steals the show.

Russell Crowe in a pair of tights wielding a bow and arrow should be the stuff all of our dreams are made of. You'd expect director Ridley Scott to provide epic oompf à la Gladiator. But in reality, the tights just look uncomfortable and the film misses the mark. Anne Majumbar

Extras Extra footage, deleted scenes, making-of documentary, marketing archive

More television, DVDs, games and gadgets in Sydney? Sign up to our weekly newsletter