Updated

Updated · IndieWire · Jun 11

IndieWire Calls A24's 'The Death of Robin Hood' a 1247-Set Grim Fable Ahead of June 19 Release

Updated

Updated · IndieWire · Jun 11

IndieWire Calls A24's 'The Death of Robin Hood' a 1247-Set Grim Fable Ahead of June 19 Release

Q: Can Hugh Jackman's intense performance salvage a film critics are already calling a 'tedious slog'?

Probably not on its own. Critics broadly agree that Hugh Jackman is one of the film’s main strengths in *The Death of Robin Hood*. Reviews describe his Robin as grizzled, intense and deeply haunted, with some calling it his best work in years. The role gives him room to play an aging, violent man seeking some form of moral reckoning, and that performance appears to land even with reviewers who disliked the movie overall. But the larger critical response suggests his work is not enough to overcome the film’s problems. The movie has been widely labeled a “tedious slog,” with complaints centered on its slow pace, thin story, dour tone and heavy reliance on atmosphere over drama. Reviewers say Michael Sarnoski’s revisionist approach, graphic violence, shifting aspect ratios and funereal folk score create a striking mood, but not a compelling narrative. Several critics argue that strong performances from Jackman, Jodie Comer and others cannot compensate for a vague or emotionally distant film. That leaves Jackman as more of a reason to sample the movie than a reason to expect it to fully work. For viewers already interested in a bleak, anti-myth version of Robin Hood, his performance may make the experience worthwhile. For audiences put off by slow, humorless prestige filmmaking, the consensus indicates that even Jackman’s intensity is unlikely to fully rescue it.

3 articles · Updated · IndieWire · Jun 11

June 19 is the theatrical release date for Michael Sarnoski’s A24 film, which IndieWire frames as a harsh medieval character study rather than a conventional Robin Hood retelling.
1247 A.D. is the setting for Hugh Jackman’s Robin, portrayed as a murderous outlaw whose attempted redemption begins after he is wounded and taken to a priory run by Jodie Comer’s Sister Brigid.
IndieWire praises the film’s austere 35mm visuals, sound design and Comer’s performance, but says Sarnoski’s self-serious approach turns the story into a hard-to-swallow fable about mythmaking and revisionism.
A separate review published the same day was more bluntly negative, calling the 2-hour-3-minute film a tedious, dour slog despite its revisionist premise and cast that also includes Bill Skarsgard.