First Film Study

Plot: Birth of a legend. Following King Richard's death in France, archer Robin Longstride, along with Will Scarlett, Alan-a-Dale and Little John, returns to England. They encounter the dying Robert of Locksley, whose party was ambushed by treacherous Godfrey, who hopes to facilitate a French invasion of England. Robin promises the dying knight he will return his sword to his father Walter in Nottingham. Here Walter encourages him to impersonate the dead man to prevent his land being confiscated by the crown, and he finds himself with Marian, a ready-made wife. Hoping to stir baronial opposition to weak King John and allow an easy French take-over, Godfrey worms his way into the king's service as Earl Marshal of England and brutally invades towns under the pretext of collecting Royal taxes.

It relates to the British culture as it is set in England with a notable King Richard in the plot. It also has the typical male hero who is full of courage and the female who is the damsel in distress and the love interest of the main character. These are stereotypical to British films with similar storylines such as Romeo and Juliet, the film also gives us a history lesson about Britain and what went on in the past.

Actors: The main three characters are fairly popular however the real stars within the film are Cate and Russell who have both been in lots of films. Most of Russell's have been action genre films as well probably making him a good fit for the role of the main hero.
Russell Crow who plays Robin Hood is from New Zealand
Cate Blanchett who plays Maid Marien is from Australia
Mark Strong who plays Sir Godfrey is from England

Director: Ridley Scott is a male director who's list of films include the following
The Duellists 1977
Alien 1979
Blade Runner 1982
Legend 1985
Thelma and Louise 1991
Gladiator 2000
Black hawk down 2001
Hannibal 2001

Style: The style of the film is set in the past thus represents almost the history and England, the film is like a story telling the audience what happened years back.

Genre: It is a action film however does contain some romantic/comedy scenes in order to entertain the audience so that they don't get bored quickly and are stuck to the screen. It reminds me of films such as Dragonheart and even Disney films with the typical plot of a hero saving the world and a damsel in distress e.g. sleeping beauty.

Production Company: The film was financed by Universal Pictures which are based in America thus to me maybe suggesting that the film isn't completely British as all it stages would be by British companies however they could have been a number of reason why this didn't happen. For example, there was a lack of them or the companies didn't like the storyline.

Distribution: Universal Pictures also promoted the film distributed films such as:

• The Invention of Lying
  
• Couples Retreat
  
• Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
  
• The Fourth Kind
  
• Pirate Radio
  
• It's Complicated
  

and was released in the United Kingdom and several other European countries on May 12, in Australia on May 13, and in the United States and Canada on May 14. However it will not be released in Japan until December 2010. The film opened #2 behind Iron Man 2 grossing an estimated $37.1 million. However, the film did do very well and grossed a huge opening internationally, making $75 million outside North America.