Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves has been on netflix for a while and I've been really enjoying the odd rewatch. It's such a strange film for so many reasons.
Firstly, there's the majority of the English characters such as the Merry Men, Friar Tuck, Guy of Gisborne (special shout out to Michael Wincott here) etc. All of them are these pantomime like characters who the producers presumably thought English people would sound like. They're all 10% too caricature like and it's made even funnier when they are compared to Robin, played by Kevin Costner. Costner, famously, had hired an accent coach but the producers decided it was too bad for the film so the decision was made to have Costner speak in his normal dialect. The result is this almost jarring contrast and it's a delight - "this is English courage" spoken like an american newsreader.
However, there are production elements that really stand out to be praised. Some of the horsework is great and in particular, the scene where Robin, Azeem and Duncan escape Maid Marian's grounds. It's a really well put together sequence that probably would have been replaced by CGI if the film was made today. I also like the large scale construction of the Merry Men hideout. Plus, filming on the White clifffs of Dover and then the Sycamore gap - Costner and Freeman earned that wage. You'd wonder, again, if that would be done today. Although it is quite funny that they seem to walk from Dover to Hadrian's Wall in a day? I'm willing to let that slide.
Plus, the music is really good. Leaving aside "Everything I do, I do it for you" there are some really nice orchestral pieces from start to finish. It really helps set the film up as an epic.
Then you have Alan Rickman's performance as the Sheriff. For those who don't know, the story is that Rickman was so unimpressed by the script and character that he was allowed to improvise most of his dialogue. The best example of this is "and cancel christmas!" - he is a pure pantomine villain and it's hilarious to compare this to the sincere, sombre Robin. It's like they are in two different movies.
Anyway, that was my two cents on an enjoyable film that has some flaws that I'm willing to ignore.