Anyone who goes to see Michael Sarnoski’s “The Death of Robin Hood” should abandon any connection to past movies about the legendary outlaw. If you’re expecting something along the lines of Kevin Costner’s “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” Disney’s animated feature, or the classic adventure with Errol Flynn, you’re in for two hours of increasingly painful disappointment.

The title of the film says it all, and in fact carries a double meaning. “The Death of Robin Hood” is about the literal death of the title character, but in a figurative sense Sarnoski’s effort feels like a character assassination, too.

The idea is one we’ve seen plenty of in recent years: the mythic character you know and love wasn’t all that great in real life, and now you’re going to see them deconstructed under the miserable, unflinching light of historical truth. This is a little curious since this particular character is more based in myth and legend than history, but whatever.

We meet this version of Robin Hood late in life, with Robin (Hugh Jackman) living in isolation as a vagabond, staving off vengeful attackers who seek to avenge his past misdeeds. His career was one of theft and criminal brutality, and his golden years are just more of the same. After a little scene-setting, Robin’s literal partner-in-crime Little John (Bill Skarsgard) recruits him to help rescue his wife from some problematic neighbors, and when that gruesomely violent operation goes south, Robin winds up in a priory clinging to life.

The premise is an adaptation of one of the common tales about the end of Robin Hood’s life, and most of the film takes place at the priory, where under the care of Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer), Robin tries to reconcile his past. After a comparatively action-packed and violent opening act, the remainder of the film transitions to an introspective and ponderous pace.

So again, even if you go in understanding that this isn’t Disney’s Robin Hood, you still might be disappointed with what you find. One of my fellow UFCA critics noted some obvious similarities with 2017’s “Logan,” but that film kept up a balance of action throughout its run time.

Credit is due to the film’s production, which establishes a strong mood, and the various elements like cinematography, the performances, the lighting, and especially the haunting score from Jim Ghedi all have their merits. But it may not be enough when the story struggles to move the needle.

To reiterate, “Death of Robin Hood” is a violent movie. There may be more graphic stuff out there, but one of the film’s main intents is to say its titular character is a menacing and uncaring villain, and on more than one occasion we see that children are not exempt from his ethos. 

Ultimately “The Death of Robin Hood” is intended to be an exploration of guilt as a man reflects on and reconciles his past, and for some that may make the film worthwhile. But many will question whether the result was worth the investment.

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“The Death of Robin Hood” is rated R for episodes of brutal and graphic violence, some involving children.

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The first time I reviewed a Deadpool movie, back in 2018, I found it refreshing—a term that didn’t go over well with my editors at the time. Yes, it was violent and vulgar, but like “Thor: Ragnarok” and the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movies, it provided a much-needed pushback to the relentless bravado of the unstoppable superhero movie genre.

Six years later, “Deadpool & Wolverine” still offers some of that same swagger, but times have changed. For one thing, Disney bought 20^th Century Fox, which owned the rights to Marvel heroes like Deadpool and the X-Men. More importantly, the MCU has fallen far from its lofty profit-producing perch. Spider-Man joined the MCU in its heyday; Deadpool is arriving to sift through its bones.

This review is coming on a bit of a delay, since I was stuck in the Chicago suburbs around O’Hare airport during the press screening for “Deadpool 3.” So I’m well-aware that Ryan Reynolds’s long-awaited team up with Hugh Jackman is performing better than most anything that has come out of the genre in the last five years. And now having watched it myself, I can understand why.

And yet…something is off.

The basic premise is promising: Everyone’s favorite foul-mouthed anti-hero joins everyone’s favorite occasionally foul-mouthed anti-hero to save Deadpool’s loved ones from a nefarious bad guy. Disney is finally bringing together the two most beloved Fox heroes on screen, and welcoming them into the MCU in the process.

So far so good, except to pull off that last bit, “Deadpool 3” has to get immersed into the same incomprehensible and inane multi-verse garbage that has made recent MCU films even more irrelevant than movies about indestructible beings fighting each other were in the first place.

The reason Deadpool’s loved ones are threatened is because their “universe” has been scheduled for destruction by a rogue bureaucrat at official multi-verse headquarters. And since the Wolverine in Deadpool’s universe has already offered the ultimate sacrifice (see 2017’s “Logan”), they have to recruit a different version from a different universe to make the team-up work.

Mind you, the preceding isn’t nearly as clear to follow in real time, and to be fair, being Deadpool, Reynolds takes ample opportunity to point out the absurdity of it all (“Deadpool & Wolverine” may set a record for both fourth-wall breaking and surprise cameos). But in spite of all the transparency and self-awareness, you get the sense that the Marvel people are just trying to paper over their own problems with some Deadpool brand band-aids, but they can’t quite stop the bleeding. Sometimes admitting that you’re doing something silly lets you get away with it, but eventually it gets a little tedious.

If you can look past all the horrible exposition and the logistical loop-de-loops, and just focus on the irreverent buddy movie this wants to be—not to mention a heartfelt tribute to Jackman and co.’s early-era Fox Marvel—“Deadpool & Wolverine” is a good but not great experience. And from the box office receipts, plenty of people have. But the subtext here is that even though the heyday of the superhero genre is long gone, Disney and co. are going to keep hammering the audience until morale improves (see: Robert Downey Jr. returning as Dr. Doom).

In other words, decent Deadpool movie (3 stars) plus 2024 MCU meddling (2 stars) = 2 ½ star verdict.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” is rated R for considerable bloody violence, profanity, and vulgarity.

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