It’s not uncommon for movies that don’t succeed at the box office to find some success once they arrive on Netflix. The streaming service has been revitalizing forgotten movies for years. Some of the movies that get this treatment and wind up in Netflix’s top 10 most popular movies actually deserve a second look, while others are best forgotten entirely.
2018’s Robin Hood thankfully falls into the first category. This reimagining of one of Hollywood’s favorite stories follows the titular character as he assembles a team of rebels to take down the Sheriff of Nottingham and rob him of both his gold and his power. While the movie isn’t perfect, it’s definitely worth checking out. Here are three reasons you should make time for it in October.
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It’s a medieval heist movie
The reason Robin Hood has proven to be such an enduring character in pop culture, in addition to his good deeds, is that everybody loves a heist story. The 2018 version of Robin Hood leans into that piece of the character’s identity even more than some other versions of the story, and even features the titular character putting together a team to take down the Sheriff of Nottingham.
The movie’s decision to lean into that element helps keep it from feeling overly serious, and also gives the movie a chance to highlight the cast that it managed to assemble for the project.
The movie’s cast is surprisingly stacked
Taron Egerton has never quite become an A-lister, but Robin Hood is a reminder of the charisma that has allowed him to book roles continuously over the past decade. Here, Egerton is surrounded by a huge lineup of pros who are all delivering exactly what the movie requires of them.
Jamie Foxx is a great piece of revisionist casting as Little John, and Jamie Dornan and Eve Hewson are both excellent as other allies of the titular hero. On top of all that, you’ve got Ben Mendelsohn as the Sherriff of Nottingham, which seems like the kind of role he was born to play.
It takes advantage of its robust budget
Robin Hood was not a success at the box office, earning less than $90 million on a reported budget of roughly $100 million, but the movie takes full advantage of being able to paint on that broad of a canvas. In spite of its solid cast, much of the money behind the movie shows up on camera in elaborate set pieces and action sequences that feel like they might have been transported from another franchise entirely.
Plenty of mega-budget movies don’t have nearly as much flair as Robin Hood, even if the movie couldn’t convince enough people to check it out while it was still trying to make that money back.
Robin Hood is now streaming on Netflix.
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