Michael Sarnoski’s The Death of Robin Hood, a dark adaptation of the myth of Robin Hood’s death, is a poignant and beautifully sketched film about growth and redemption. Starring Hugh Jackman as the titular bandit, the film follows Robin Hood in a convent as he reckons with his past whilst recovering from a grievous injury.
Jackman is fantastic as the lead, giving what is undeniably one of the best performances of his career. He balances excellently the gruffness of his character’s harsh bandit exterior with the depth and emotion of a man trying to redeem himself from a life of crime.
Jodie Comer co-stars as Sister Brigid, a nurse who cares for Robin, also bringing a great deal of depth to her role and complementing Jackman nicely with a more subtle and subdued performance. Bill Skarsgård and Murray Bartlett round out the film’s cast, playing Little John and a leper at the convent, respectively, and both of them also give incredibly strong performances. Skarsgård magnificently communicates the complexity of a criminal attempting to find a new life from himself amongst those he once deceived, and his arc throughout the film is incredibly moving.
Bartlett’s performance is a career best, completely disappearing within the role of a leper, both through the use of incredible prosthetic make-up and through physical and vocal affectations that are so effortless and convincing that I was unable to tell it was him until his name appears in the film’s end credits.
Sarnoski’s direction is immaculate, never once allowing self-indulgent formal choices to distract from the beauty and precision of his actor’s performances. His screenplay is similarly excellent and is filled with dialogue that is both deeply philosophical and profoundly moving, all while still working in service of the character’s naturalistic presentations.
While the film’s editing is incredibly slow-paced, this works in its favour, creating a mesmerising effect that leaves the viewer completely enraptured with the film. The costume and production design are incredibly beautiful to look at, with excellent period-accurate clothing and locations that make the film feel authentic and lived in. The cinematography is amongst the best I’ve seen in a film this decade, with the 35mm film allowing for an incredibly rich and deep visual style that uses beautiful hues of blue, yellow, and green.
Overall, The Death of Robin Hood is crafted with a precision that is sadly often absent from modern cinema, and any reader will absolutely regret not allowing such a profound work of image and performance to play out in front of them on the cinema screen.
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