Blu-ray Movie Reviews

Kevin Costner triumphs as the legendary Sherwood Forest outlaw leader in this epic adventure bringing a 12th-century medieval world to spectacular screen life. Enhancing the fun are 12 added minutes of footage not seen in theatres, especially more juicy malevolence of Robin Hoods archenemy, the Sheriff of Nottingham. Morgan Freeman, Christian Slater and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio also star in this lavish production lensed in Britain and France, where historic structures, majestic forests and vividly realistic recreations of Olde England combined to create a world at once ancient and ageless.

Prince of Thieves was a great reboot to the rather played out Robin Hood saga. Rather than just delivering the same old thing polished up for a new generation, the film depicted a different side to the story and brought a fresh adventure. Guess we’ll have to see if Ridley Scott can do it yet again with his new adaptation next year. This film still stands up remarkably well and I still love Alan Rickman’s performance as the Sheriff. A great catalog classic from Warner.

The HD presentation is a bit of a disappointment. The image has a very soft look to it and contrast levels are disappointing. Blacks look a bit washed out and the image seems to have a veil over it. This really hurt dimension and depth leaving the image a bit flat. Compression artifacts are never a problem but this one didn’t end up looking much better than a high quality DVD master.

The soundtrack is presented in Dolby TrueHD 5.1 and I’m still thrilled to see Warner continue to support lossless on all their titles now. The presentation here is good but the age of the film and its sound design keep it from being top grade. The action lacks the dynamics we’ve become so accustomed to and the dialogue is a bit harsh at times. The soundtrack still has some body and the surround soundstage is pretty convincing, but it pales in comparison to the better mixes out there today.

Extras include a pair of commentary tracks with the director and various cast members along with the TV special about Robin Hood that came out around the same time as the film. You also get a live performance of the film’s theme song by Bryan Adams that relaunched his career into the stratosphere. The trailers are also included.

This is a solid Warner catalog title but the presentation came up a bit short for me. While a subtle improvement over the DVD, I was hoping for more.