'The Death of Robin Hood' Review: A Cold, Edgy and Try-hard Deconstruction of the Legend
- 7 minutes ago
- 4 min read
By Dan Bremner - September 8, 2026
The latest attempt to drag the folk hero Robin Hood back onto the screen, this time by deconstructing the myth in the most dour, edgy and thoroughly miserable way possible. The man in tights has been adapted countless times, with very few versions actually landing. In the last couple of decades we’ve already endured several “gritty” and “realistic” takes: Ridley Scott’s 2010 version with Russell Crowe, the doomed 2018 attempt to launch a franchise with Taron Egerton, neither of which anyone actually remembers. Outside of the Disney animated film, the only Robin Hood I retain any fondness for is the short-lived BBC series from the noughties.
Michael Sarnoski (A Quiet Place: Day One) delivers what is unfortunately the most joyless and self-serious version yet with The Death of Robin Hood. It often feels like an SNL parody of a Logan-style Robin Hood film, only shot on 35mm. When Hugh Jackman gravely intones lines like “You wouldn’t have called my men Merry if you met them” or “I’ve killed so many children, I’ve lost count,” it is genuinely difficult not to laugh. The film is trying so hard to be dark and revisionist that it tips into accidental comedy.
The first thirty minutes are the most extreme, gory and try-hard stretch of any Robin Hood film I’ve seen. Robin stabs a young woman through the skull while she tries to avenge her parents and dumps her body in the mass grave of others who have tried, puts an arrow through the back of a fleeing child’s head, and Little John rips someone’s jaw clean off. It plays like Zack Snyder was briefly given the keys. Not good, but deranged enough that it at least holds your attention through sheer commitment to unpleasantness.
Once that opening burst of violence is over, the remaining ninety minutes become some of the most boring cinema you are likely to encounter this year (unless someone re-releases Eternals). The film settles into a long, meditative, almost event-free chamber piece about regret and atonement that feels endless. The 122-minute runtime, which you feel every minute of, starts to weigh heavily, the entire second and third act feels like an eternity, and the ending arrives in a strangely rushed manner after so much sitting around.
The tone is extremely dour, humourless and oppressive. There is almost no levity, no trace of the “merry” men, and very little reason to stay engaged with these characters. The relentless grimness and forced cynicism become suffocating. By the halfway point I found myself actively rooting for Robin to die simply so the film will end. Or at the very least to cut to Kevin Costner waking up to realise the rest of the film was just a weird dream and this was a stealth-sequel to Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves.
Jackman’s Robin is deliberately hard to root for as a selfish, murderous brigand whose heroic reputation is largely a lie, as he constantly reminds the audience. He is tormented, taciturn and frequently off-putting. This is not your daddy's Robin Hood, this is a mass murderer who felt very little remorse over all the countless men, women and children he's killed over the years. The supporting characters, including Jodie Comer’s Sister Brigid, are kept so underdeveloped or cryptic that emotional investment remains limited. Bill Skargard has a small role as “Little John”, playing him as a simple, tortured and possibly mentally-handicapped version of the character that briefly made me think this was going to have an Of Mice and Men ending. The rest of the Merry Men are mentioned in passing, being executed for their crimes.
It also feels almost wilfully inaccessible. This is a cerebral, artsy meditation that has no interest in swashbuckling, robbing the rich, or any of the traditional pleasures associated with the character. General audiences looking for even a mildly entertaining Robin Hood film will leave frustrated. The mixed reception and box-office underperformance is easy to understand. All this would be fine, if the subversive material was strong enough, instead the film reaches for profundity about violence, myth and redemption but rarely gets there, instead just feeling like a patience testing and self-indulgent exercise in wanting to “Deconstruct the Legend”.
Technically the film is often impressive. Shot on 35mm by Pat Scola, it looks rich and atmospheric, with misty landscapes, a clear shift from cold violent greys to warmer pastoral tones, and strong production design that makes the medieval world feel lived-in and rough. When it comes to practical violence, it's also incredibly visceral, the kills in the first act are gruesome, uncomfortable and unflinching in how ruthless they are. The craft is not the problem, everything else is.
The Death of Robin Hood is a joyless, dull and often laughably edgy take on Robin Hood, one that often dips into what feels like a parody. Grim, brutal and visually gorgeous with a strong cast, but entirely empty with its attempts at being a deconstruction of the folk legend. Another failed modern attempt on the material.
'The Death of Robin Hood' released in cinemas on September 2, 2026.
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Dan Bremner
Writer
Dan is a writer from Guildford with a love for all things genre, schlocky, and thoroughly '80s, and a part-time philanthropist.
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