Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

I've always been a fan of the baddie in films - and this film really belongs to Alan Rickman's "Sheriff" with a good supporting effort from Geraldine McEwan as his harridan witch cohort. They bring almost all of humour and menace. The bulk of the rest of the film is a pretty run-of-the-mill vehicle for Costner, Freeman and Mastrantonio - and moves along well enough as a pretty formulaic, very freely adapted, costume drama. Brian Blessed hams marvellously in the few scenes he has and the score works well into the fabric of the movie. Sadly, the writing and direction are nothing special. Errol and Basil have little to worry about.