WARNING: I simply can't help it. This post most likely WILL contain SPOILERS.One thing is for sure, this movie is leagues better than 2004's King Arthur. Maybe it’s because I can’t look at Clive Owen without thinking of some kind of man-ape gone wrong thing, or maybe because I just can’t get behind a 90lb woman wearing a strip of leather, some blue dye, and nothing else beating the crap out of a 200lb man wearing chain mail and heaving sword that’s bigger than she is, with nothing but an antler. But mostly it’s because the film’s narrator, Lancelot, dies in the end, yet still somehow manages to tell the story of what came first and what comes next. I have a very flexible imagination, but that’s just silly. The idea of a narrator is that they’re the ones who survived to tell the tale. Just ask Dilios from 300.In any case, back to Robin Hood. The most extraordinary thing about this film is how completely Ridley Scott manages to transport the watchers back to 12th century Merry Old, which turns out to have not been so merry. Everything from the settings, sets, costumes, weapons, muck and grime brings you there to the point that you can almost taste Friar Tuck’s mead. The lives of ordinary middle-class Englanders are well portrayed, as are those of conscripted soldiers, and all the way up to the kings and queens. The only people conspicuously missing are the poorest class. Despite that, I still expected to see dirt-farming serfs from Monty Python leap out of the grass and start holding forth on the oppressiveness inherit in a monarchy.To be sure, this is not the story of the Robin Hood who takes from the rich and gives to the poor. This is a genesis story of William Wallace in his later incarnation as Robin Hood, with a light seasoning of young Arthur in TheSword in the Stone. Muscle Show, ahem, make that Russell Crowe, does an excellent job of reviving his finer role as an everyman reluctant hero. Among his finest acting characteristics are the ability to be deeply brooding and fiercely angst-ridden, as he so magically showed as Maximus in Gladiator. Though this moviegave him a chance to revive some of that, the character of Robin Hood lacked much of the nobility of Maximus and had a far lesser personal vendetta to avenge, thus limiting the range Crowe is able to carry the watcher through. But, what Robin Hood lacks in nobility and angst, he makes up for in charm and excellent marksmanship.And the villains, oh the villains, they were the cake of this film. With Mark Strong as Sir Godfrey and Oscar Isaac as Prince John, never have two such deliciously evil and slimy cretins wriggled so deviously together on screen. Mark Strong may be the best character actor villain I've ever seen, and he pulls it off with that kind of old world, mustache-twirling elegance you rarely see in your everyday action and explosion Hollywood films like Crank or Miami Vice. I've never seen Oscar Isaac in anything before, but he is definitely one to watch out for. At the same time sinister and endearing, and with the most bizarre looking blue contacts, this little Prince was titillating to watch as he reached for glory only to fall short thanks to his personal vanity and insecurity.The women in the film were about what you'd expect, with a couple of highlights. They actually made Lady (instead of Maid) Marian, played by Cate Blanchett, someone to deal with, giving her armor and a sword and a will to use them. There was also a wise dowager Queen of England who saw the ruin of her son coming, and managed to affect some small influence over the course of events. But on the whole, there were a lot of lusty bimbettes with a thing for smelly yeomen.While it wasn't a movie worthy of Russell's next Oscar, it was entertaining and held enough building conflict to make watchers care about what was to come next. There were a few anachronistic elements, but they seemed to be thoughtfully worked into the script as a way to draw in the modern audience and make us feel more involved with these thousand-year-old heros and cretins. I'd consider this a good late night film to rent on a quiet Wednesday evening when there's nothing much going on.Hey, I don't think there were any spoilers (unless you count King Arthur).