DRAMA; 2hr 2min
STARRING: Hugh Jackman, Jodie Comer
Sharp focus: Jackman
In a dismal AD 1247, the English countryside is consistently freezing. Cursed with disillusionment and yards of frizzled hair, socialist outlaw, stone-cold slayer and local resident Robin Hood (Jackman) is understandably over everything, which at least means he fits right into Pig writer-director Michael Sarnoski’s unorthodox take on a legend. (“He was no hero,” Robin says bluntly of his mythologised self to an unfortunate straggler who will later feel the impact of his words. “He robbed and killed for the joy of it, nothing more.”)
“Joy” would seem to be a stretch. Not a drop of suffering is spared as Robin goes about the bloodthirsty business that will lead him, grievously wounded and at the end of his psychological rope, to an ancient island priory presided over by the preternaturally serene Sister Brigid (a movie-starrish Comer).
While less than ecstatic to be there (or anywhere, for that matter), “Randolph’s” injuries leave him no choice but to allow Mother Nature to hopefully take her healing course. When a woebegone little girl arrives (Faith Delaney), with a spirit even more scarred than Robin’s own, her wordless presence is a balm that brings out the best in him — for if there is one entrapment this ruined man understands, it’s the prison of radical damage.
Based on the 17th-century ballad “Robin Hood’s Death”, Sarnoski’s tale of woe leans heavily into introspection, most notably from its splenetic subject. Jackman has feral energy honed to a fine art: like the wild animal he has all but become, Robin is keenly attuned to the power of stillness. Approaching the end of his contentious life, as close to peace as he is likely to come, the depth of his eyes hold the core of his story.
