At one time Russell Crowe was a great actor. Very watchable and magnetic, he stole every scene he was in from stars such as Denzel Washington (Virtuosity). Then he morphed into something else. He became Russell Crowe, the personality instead of Russel Crowe, the actor. The two halves fused and he has carried that grouchy attitude into everything he has done in films since.
In every movie he played basically the same character regardless of what time period the movie was set in. Their is little difference between Crowe the gladiator, Crowe the prizefighter, Crowe the sea captain and Crowe as Robin Hood.
I find him to be joyless as a performer. He always comes across as if he has been forced to make these movies against his will and he will be damned if he will put anything but the least amount of effort into his performances.
He seems like a hurt toddler, who is ready to explode at the least little thing. While his companions drink and sing and have about as much fun as you COULD have in the middle ages, Crowe's Robin is all gloom and doom. Talk about being a buzzkill.
Sure, physically he gets the job done but there is something missing. He holds back everything but the barest emotions. When the movie has a great script and great action sequences, he can get away with it. But in a movie like 'Robin Hood' when he needs also to show the CHARISMA necessary to make a folk hero like Robin Hood come alive, he doesn't do that.
The 'real' Robin Hood, if he existed at all, would have had to be an enormously appealing fellow to get everyone to rally around him and risk their lives to become outlaws in Sherwood Forest. I just don't see that here. We are told we are suppose to like and revere Crowe's character so we do. Everyone seems to be following a script with very precise story beats and they can't deviate for a second from the formula.
As bad as 'Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves, was at times, there was something actually alive at the heart of that picture. Nothing lives in Ridley Scott's version of the well known tale. We seem to be going from death to death just to motivate Crowe's character to get off his ass and do something about the crappy world he is now living in. He's is all reaction and no instigation.
He reminds me of my Uncle Mel who would bitch and complain when he was asked to do anything like take out the garbage or pick up the kids from practice. You didn't want to ask anything from him knowing what his predictable reaction would be.
Have I told you nothing about this picture? I don't need to. You know what to expect and that is all you get. Lots of costumes and clashing armor and one guy who never misses when he needs to make the shot.
