Review:
"The Death of Robin Hood"
Release Date: June 19, 2026 Rating: R Running Time: 123 minutes In the first 20 minutes of writer/director Michael Sarnoski’s The Death of Robin Hood, English folklore’s most celebrated outlaw slaughters men, women, and children with such brutality that his violent nature would shock even Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees. Sarnoski makes clear from the very beginning of his revisionist tale of treachery and retribution that his Robin Hood is not the Robin Hood that Walt Disney, Kevin Costner, and Mel Brooks presented to audiences. This Robin Hood played by Hugh Jackman—always armed with his trusty bow and arrow—is cruel, calculated, and remorseless. And, in his old age, he does not take any pleasure in the erroneous accounts of his heroism that follow him like the vengeful offspring of the rich and the poor he killed in cold blood. He is the first the refute claims that he robbed from the rich to give to the poor—he did it to line his and the pockets of his Merry Men. Sarnoski knows that we do not need another film about Robin Hood’s heroic feats, just as we don’t need another film focused on the deeds of Peter Pan, Tarzan, and Sherlock Holmes. Instead, the director of Pig and A Quiet Place: Day One deconstructs the man behind the myth in intelligent and uncompromising fashion. And he stages this dark and grounded mediation—bleakly shot in 35mm by cinematographer Pat Scola—on the value of a corrupt man’s life with a violent streak that stands in stark contrast to how Hollywood has portrayed Robin Hood for more than a century. More important, The Death of Robin Hood asks how a flawed and morally corrupted man can redeem himself in his remaining days, and how his final actions can afford him the opportunity to die on his own terms. To this end, carrying the weight and the burden of the truth of his legacy on his broad shoulders, a bearded and disheveled Jackman offers a cold and aloof Robin Hood exhausted by the death and destruction he has left in his wake but conditioned to kill out of self-preservation. Jackman also imbues his Robin with great self-awareness and begrudgingly acceptance of his past actions, which manifests itself in a self-loathing that only adds fuel to his survival instincts. But Jackman also displays a sense of loyalty and duty to those he considers friends and companions. To cross one of Robin’s Merry Man and you cross Robin. So Sarnoski fittingly opens The Death of Robin Hood with the outlaw helping his loyal companion Little John (a typically unrecognizable Bill Skarsgård) to rescue his wife Margaret (Katie Breen) and daughter Little Margaret (Faith Delaney) from aggrieved locals. A beaten and wounded Robin is taken to a nunnery on a remote island, where is he cared for by Jodie Comer’s Sister Brigid. During his recovery, Robin unexpectedly finds himself in the reluctant position of serving as Little Margaret’s guardian. Sarnoski employs Robin’s uneasy relationships with the hospitable Sister Brigid and the anxious but headstrong Little Margaret to reflect on an unworthy life, one that has caused much pain and damage. Played with warmth and compassionate by Comer, Sister Brigid serves not only as a sounding board for Robin and guides him down the path for him to find purpose and peace as he contemplates all that has been and all that there will be. Holding her own against Jackman, Delaney fills her Little Margaret with equal amounts of anger and inquisitiveness as she affords Robin the opportunity to assume responsibilities he has never held before and humanize him in the process. What happens on and off the island leads Robin to determine his fate, one that seems very much in contrast with the life he has led. By the time all is said and done, Sarnoski has given us the final word on Robin Hood. Aired: June 17, 2026. Web site: https://a24films.com/films/the-death-of-robin-hood |
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