robin hood

[маразм1]

Is it just me, or does it look like the new Robin Hood movie looks like the sequel to Gladiator?  Crowe is not a good fit at all, that scruffy bear!

[DavidW]

Crowe would have been better off playing Friar Tuck!   Well it's Ridley Scott, I will always give him a chance.  Besides I have a free ticket.

[kishnevi]

Is it just me, or does it look like the new Robin Hood movie looks like the sequel to Gladiator?  Crowe is not a good fit at all, that scruffy bear!

Sequel to Gladiator?  Did they rip off another Robert Graves novel for this one, as they did with Gladiator [I, Claudius]?

[Josquin des Prez]

The question is, will it suck as badly as Kingdom of Heaven?

[DavidW]

Sequel to Gladiator?  Did they rip off another Robert Graves novel for this one, as they did with Gladiator [I, Claudius]?

I don't think they did, Claudius is about early Roman empire, Commodus (the emperor in the Gladiator) was emperor 100-150 years after Caligula and Claudius.  The beginning of the movie showed the Germanic Wars, which puts it quite a bit after those earlier days chronicled in I, Claudius.

[DavidW]

The question is, will it suck as badly as Kingdom of Heaven?

Oh... yeah... I forgot about that movie...

[kishnevi]

I don't think they did, Claudius is about early Roman empire, Commodus (the emperor in the Gladiator) was emperor 100-150 years after Caligula and Claudius.  The beginning of the movie showed the Germanic Wars, which puts it quite a bit after those earlier days chronicled in I, Claudius.

The central plot motive of Gladiator is identical to that of I, Claudius, with minor redrafting to take into account the differing dramatis personae.  So  alike that if Graves' estate had sued for plagiarism, they would have probably won.  The only major difference is that in I, Claudius, it's the emperor himself who wants to restore republican rule in Rome.

[Cato]

Is it just me, or does it look like the new Robin Hood movie looks like the sequel to Gladiator?  Crowe is not a good fit at all, that scruffy bear!

Gladiator in a blender with Mel Gibson's Braveheart:  you can almost see the pitch to the studio executives, since Hollywood loves nothing like an old idea in a new package.

When we saw the preview, I said to my wife: "We already saw that movie several times!"   0:)

[DavidW]

Gladiator in a blender with Mel Gibson's Braveheart:  you can almost see the pitch to the studio executives, since Hollywood loves nothing like an old idea in a new package.

When we saw the preview, I said to my wife: "We already saw that movie several times!"   0:)

I thought exactly the same thing when I first saw the trailer, and then after I saw the movie I still thought that!   And then I thought boy this will not be the first try to reproduce the success of Braveheart, and then Troy came out and Alexander came out...

[DavidW]

The central plot motive of Gladiator is identical to that of I, Claudius, with minor redrafting to take into account the differing dramatis personae.  So  alike that if Graves' estate had sued for plagiarism, they would have probably won.  The only major difference is that in I, Claudius, it's the emperor himself who wants to restore republican rule in Rome.

I think that you would have to spell it out for me then because I don't see how a court intrigue story is that much like a sword and sandals flick.  The only intrigue that exists in Gladiator was purely to setup the arena set pieces.  And as was already pointed out Gladiator immitates the main character arc of Braveheart pretty closely, the real difference was just the setting.

[Todd]

I think the real question here is will it be as bad as Kevin Costner's Robin Hood?  The obvious answer is no, it cannot be.  So I will watch it. 

I admit I enjoy Ridley Scott's visual style, even if the story lines and overall quality aren't top notch. 

[DavidW]

*cues Bryan Adams crooning*

[Cato]

*cues Bryan Adams crooning*

Summer of '69, Dude!   

[kishnevi]

I think that you would have to spell it out for me then because I don't see how a court intrigue story is that much like a sword and sandals flick.  The only intrigue that exists in Gladiator was purely to setup the arena set pieces.  And as was already pointed out Gladiator imitates the main character arc of Braveheart pretty closely, the real difference was just the setting.

Thus sayeth Wikipedia:

Knowing that his time is short, the dying Aurelius decides to appoint leadership to the morally-upstanding Maximus, with a desire to eventually return power to the Roman Senate, effectively reviving the Republic. Aurelius informs Maximus of his decision before telling Commodus. Maximus reluctantly accepts the appointment after expressing a wish to return home to his family.
....................................
Maximus orders the release of Juba and the rest of Proximo's surviving gladiators and the reinstatement of Senator Gracchus, instructing him to return Rome to a republican government.

The idea of the emperor wanting to return Rome to a republican form of government describes Claudius in the Graves books (although of course in the first of the pair, he's a private citizen, and is emperor only in the second novel, Claudius the God).   (In the first book Claudius shares this devotion to republican government with his brother Germanicus, one of the reasons Germanicus is killed on Livia's orders.)

There's also the fact that Commodus in the film acts a lot like Caligula in I, Claudius--but that can explained by actual similarities between the historical Caligula and the historical Commodus.  Although I don't remember the historical Commodus being responsible for the death of Marcus Aurelius,  or lusting after his sister--which Graves, depicts Caligula as doing (in Caligula's case, bedding both his sisters).  However, Graves was merely following historical gossip collected by  Suetonius and others, so the screenwriters may have gotten it from Graves's sources and not Graves himself.   And while Commodus was killed by members of the Praetorian Guard (as was Caligula), the assassination had nothing to do with gladiator contests--as I recall, he was killed while taking a bathroom break while travelling.

Semi-ironically, Senator Gracchus (a name potent with meaning in Roman history) in the film is played by Derek Jacobi, who portrayed in Claudius in the mini-series.

[kishnevi]

I think the real question here is will it be as bad as Kevin Costner's Robin Hood?  The obvious answer is no, it cannot be.  So I will watch it. 

I admit I enjoy Ridley Scott's visual style, even if the story lines and overall quality aren't top notch.

To give the devil his due--the Costner film had some great  one liners scattered amid its turgos, of which the best of course was:

"No more merciful beheadings!"

[Lethevich]

I think the real question here is will it be as bad as Kevin Costner's Robin Hood?

That was a good film, dude, whether you want to admit it or not

[Renfield]

That was a good film, dude, whether you want to admit it or not

I think the best thing that film did was inspire Men in Tights.

Re the Scott one, I read that the studio people were originally pitching it as a film about the Sheriff of Nottingham, with Robin as the villain; and that both Scott and Crowe thought the idea was stupid, and unsellable. Frankly, I'd have watched that one.

But not the one they made. Not in the cinema, anyway. I'd much rather get my Hollywood on with Iron Man 2, if at all.

[DavidW]

Kishnevi, it sounds like you found two things in common, that's hardly plagiarism.

[DavidW]

Boy I just realized that I never got around to watching the tv show.   Wonder if it's any good?

[Novi]

I think the real question here is will it be as bad as Kevin Costner's Robin Hood?  The obvious answer is no, it cannot be.  So I will watch it. 

Hey, Alan Rickman kicks ass!