Review for Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves 4K Ultra HD

In 1991 you could not move for Robin Hood, if it wasn’t the film we were watching, it was the infamous song Everything I Do I Do For You by Bryan Adams which topped the charts for seventeen consecutive weeks and was how every party ended at the time.

Robin has come back to England from the Crusades accompanied by Azeem, a Moor and finds that his home has been destroyed by the evil Sheriff of Nottingham who in the absence of King Richard rules the land with a cruel, iron fist.

Robin joins a band of outlaws living in Sherwood Forest and they begin to rob the rich to feed the poor much to the hatred of the Sheriff. During this time, Robin falls for Maid Marian and must rescue her from marrying the Sheriff who is being forced to marry to save the lives of the Merry Men and their families.

This film is an epic, action romp and despite people decrying Kevin Costner not even attempting an English accent and despite winning a Worst Actor Razzie I still found this wonderfully entertaining and his work with Morgan Freeman is just great to watch.

Highlight of the film is of course Alan Rickman in a BAFTA winning portrayal of the Sheriff and his over the top outbursts “That's it then. Cancel the kitchen scraps for lepers and orphans, no more merciful beheadings, and call off Christmas” are and it’s a crime he was not nominated for an Oscar for it. It is also a shame

The film looks amazing, and it is also a shame that costume and sets were not recognised at all (though this was the year of Terminator 2 so it wouldn’t have won anything) but the whole film looks wonderful and the score by Michael Kamen works so well.

Considering how much the film was savaged at the time, or given average reviews, it is so surprising to see the film given the kind of UHD treatment it has been given though will have to admit that the film looks and sounds gorgeous. I will not lie that the first thing I thought when watching this film is how great Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights was and how I wish I was watching that, but I can understand that this is a film that many people enjoyed watching.

The interviews only last twenty minutes in total, but are nice to hear those involved talking about the film and their feelings about it. It is a shame that they all only get a few minutes each.

There are two versions of the film the original coming in at two hours twenty-three and an Extended cut at Two hours and Thirty -Five minutes. Both are fine, but as there is no intro or explanation you would need to know the original off by heart or have the films side by side to know what was added.

There are two Commentaries. One features Director Kevin Reynolds and star Kevin Costner and one featuring stars Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater and Writer/Producers Pen Densham and John Watson. Both are on the Extended cut and are both great to listen to as it felt that everyone involved had some stories and memories that they wanted to talk about which was nice.

The multi-part documentary Here We Are Kings is mainly involving the creative aspect of the film and thankfully can be played all in one go which is a great touch. If you are a fan of the film it does go into detail into how it was made the creative process.

Robin Hood: The Man, The Myth, The Legend is a 1991 show presented by future Bond Pierce Brosnan. This is a rather over the top look at the fact and fiction behind the Robin Hood story, mixed up with a look at the making of the film. This is fine, but a little too odd for my liking.

Musical cues is essentially the score of the film which is nice, but I can’t imagine sitting listening to it while it plays on the TV. If this had been incorporated into the Image Galleries it would have been much better. However, the music is beautiful.

The music video is actually a live version of Bryan Adams singing from Slane Castle. It is nice to see this, but not sure why they didn’t include the actual music video too.

Finally, we have the Trailer, Three TV Spots and Image Gallery which consists only of Publicity stills and Behind the scenes pictures. I expected this to also include sketches of costumes, sets and maybe Posters for the film and so it’s not as great as it should be.

Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves is a great action film that is hugely entertaining. It is true that it is not historically accurate and Costner’s inability to do an English accent is hilarious at times, but it doesn’t take anything away from the film. The set is perfect for those who enjoy the film and there are a great number of special features and the 4K treatment is fabulous. This film is a bullseye of 1990s action which I would recommend to everyone.