The Death of Robin Hood review: Miserable trudge with Hugh Jackman turns hero into a cold-blooded killer

Running time: 123 minutes.Rated R (strong bloody violence).

In theaters.Was it when Robin Hood shot an arrow through a boy’s eye socket or when Little John ripped off another man’s jaw?Maybe it was the part when Robin slit a young woman’s throat and held her to the ground as she bled out.   But very quickly during the nauseatingly violent first couple scenes of the interminable “The Death of Robin Hood” did my mind and stomach completely reject all of director Michael Sarnoski’s high-on-its-own-supply film, even with more than 90 mostly insufferable minutes left to go.The savagery recedes, sure, however the movie only goes from sick to sooty. Boy, does this tiresome medieval drudgery think it’s clever.You see, Sarnoski, who also wrote the screenplay, has flipped the folkloric character, played by Hugh Jackman, on his feathered cap by turning him from a benevolent outlaw into a cold-blooded killer.From swashbuckling Errol Flynn to “The Sherwood Forest Chainsaw Massacre.”We learn in a “Romeo and Juliet”-ish narration provided by Jodie Comer’s icy Sister Brigid that there was, in fact, no one “more wanton and wicked than the murderous bandit Robin Hood and his Little John.” In short: “Steal from the rich and give to the poor” becomes “Kill anybody with a pulse.”There are plenty of excellent movies about horrible men and homicidal maniacs, and they hold our attention in a variety of ways.

Psychological complexity that gives us insight into why they do what they do is a big one, and so is a captivating plot.Sometimes the evildoers win us over with humor and charisma.  You won’t find even a morsel of any of that at “Death of Robin Hood.” Sarnoski tries to get by on cinematography and brooding.

That’s it.But stunning, misty Northern Ireland scenery and an offputtingly dour leading man are not enough to lift this trudge out of its murky pit of depression and lethargy.Of course, because of the prestige that automatically...