Given the abundance of Marvel-inspired movies doing the rounds, perhaps Tina Turner was onto something when she sung “we don’t need another hero”. But director Otto Bathurst’s rollicking reboot of the medieval social justice campaigner’s brazen attempt to redistribute wealth by stealing from the rich and giving to the poor is, as Taron Egerton says in his opening narration, no ordinary bedtime story.

The pace of Ben Chandler and David James Kelly’s debut feature is as snappy as a great white off Amity Island. As is the score by Joseph Trapanese (The Greatest Showman) which propels the plot forward from one action-packed sequence to the next. Though there are few epic set-pieces or jaw-dropping spectacles; and pause for reflection is thin on the ground.

Egerton adds to his long line of cocky charmers, with his cheeky smile and piercing eyes (not to mention smouldering six-pack in a customary shirtless scene) elevating his look to that of a chiselled Jamie Oliver. Jamie Foxx snarls and schemes as Robin’s mentor and co-conspirator Yahya aka Little John. And Tim Minchin provides comic relief as the doddery Friar Tuck.

But it is Ben Mendelsohn who shines as the menacing Sheriff of Nottingham, adding depth and darkness to an otherwise lighthearted romp which much like the waters off Amity Island is unashamedly shallow. To be continued with Fifty Shades of Grey actor Jamie Dornan working his way through the rainbow as Will Scarlet.

Director: Otto Bathurst
Writers: Ben Chandler (screenplay by), David James Kelly (screenplay by)
Stars: Taron Egerton, Jamie Foxx, Ben Mendelsohn
Peter Callaghan
Latest posts by Peter Callaghan (see all)