The Last of Robin Hood (2014)

That was an excellent one.

Disappointment for a huge fan!

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

...a great screenplay and cast's efforts were shredded by Susan Sarandon's pathetic portrayal of Beverly's mother. Sarandon just "phoned" this one in and simply recited the lines.Kevin Kline, on the other hand, was marvelous. He recreated the "In Like Flynn" image to a tee.Too bad.

I am a big fan of the Golden age of Hollywood and Errol Flynn will always hold a soft spot in my heart. This tells the story of how the aging and ill Flynn met his last wife. She was a mere 15 years old – one Beverley Aadland (Dakota Fanning). This was a spirited girl who was being driven to be an actress by her alcoholic mothers own ambitions. This is Florence Aadland played brilliantly by Susan Sarandon.From what I know of this part of Flynn's life the film is fairly faithful to the facts. Kevin Kline as the ageing Lothario is actually excellent – he plays the part with enough of the rogue to be believable but with the right level of empathy to make the man live. They also recreate some of the last filmatic roles and that part of the film is very enjoyable.The problem is it does not go anywhere too exciting in the 94 minute run time and so has been criticised for that. That said I really enjoyed it. I think you will get a lot more out of this if you are interested in Flynn and enjoy a good performance or two and this certainly has that.

After reading the poor reviews of this film I was expecting very little, but ended up surprised that it was better than I expected. I would say that this was mainly due to the superb acting of the 3 stars here, Kevin Kline, Susan Sarandon, and Dakota Fanning. I also had to take my own personal "moral police meter" and put it aside , to review the movie on it's merits and not my moral judgments, something perhaps some viewers will not want to do.Set in the latter years of the 1950's, the tale focuses on the 2 year relationship between the world famous actor Errol Flynn and the 15 year old Beverly Aadland. Kline is excellent as Flynn, known for his lecherous and playboy ways, and who spots the chorus girl and aspiring actress Aadland on a movie set and immediately takes steps to seduce her.However, Beverly, also superbly portrayed by Fanning, does not appear to be your typical teen looking to bask in the fame and fortune of Flynn. She actually appears to like him and his company, I guess you could say as much as a 15 year old is able to.Then there's Florence, Beverly's mother, and Sarandon just "nails it" here with her portrayal of the super ambitious "stage mother", who even has groomed her daughter to look and act older than her years ( having a fake birth certificate handy showing she's 18 years old). Florence seems to be pushing Beverly to succeed because her own career as a dancer was cut short when she lost a leg in an auto accident, and now wears a prosthetic device.Thus the remainder of the film will focus on the enmeshed lives of the three personalities, and how they will try and hide what's going on from the public and the media. However, there will come a time after the death of Flynn, in 1959, when most serious repercussions will have to be faced.I read that the filmmakers Richard Glatzer and Wash Westmoreland (Still Alice) tried to focus on the story rather than the morality of it all, and, as mentioned, that's what I tried to do as well. The movie itself I thought was quite absorbing, led by the strong acting of the three leads plus the fine supporting cast, and was enhanced by actual photos, at the end, of the real characters portrayed and some of what happened to them in future years.

Errol Flynn was one of my favorite actors and one of the most popular actors from the mid 30s through the 50s. Even today, "Robin Hood" (1938), "Light Brigade" (1936), "Dawn Patrol"(1938), "Sea Hawk" (1940), "They Died with their Boots On" (1941), and "Roots of Heaven" (1958) – to name just a few - stand the test of time. How disappointing then such a bland film as "Last of Robin Hood" seeks to capture his final years. I kept hoping that this film would do for Flynn what "Chaplin" (1992) did for Chaplin (curiously enough Kevin Kline gives excellent performances in both: he played Douglas Fairbanks in the Chaplain biopic).Putting aside Kline's strong performance and his ability to look like Flynn, the rest of the film is torturous, more like a docudrama than a biography. The film fails to capture the 50s in spirit, despite the extensive use of 50s cars. And the references to Hollywood insiders like Melvin Belli will be lost on almost everyone.If you're a big Errol Flynn fan you want to give this one a miss.