Plot
It is 1199 and Robin Longstride (Russell Crowe) is a common archer in the army of Richard the Lionheart (King Richard I of England) (Danny Huston). A veteran of the Third Crusade and war of Richard I of England against Philip II of France, he now takes part in the siege against Chalus Castle. Disillusioned and war-weary, he believes the King when invited to give an honest view of the war and the King's conduct. After Robin gives a frank but unflattering appraisal, Richard breaks his promise and has Robin and comrades taken prisoner to be judged after ending the siege. Upon learning the King has been slain during an attack on the castle, the betrayed men decide to free themselves and desert. Along the way they come across an ambush of an English royal guard by Godfrey (Mark Strong), an English knight who is collaborating with the French and who is looking for King Richard after having conspired with King Philip II to assassinate Richard. Robin and his companions, seeing English soldiers being attacked by an unknown force, wade into the fray and counterattack using their skill as archers. Godfrey and his surviving men are chased off by this attack from Robin and his men, and Robin discovers that the English party was escorting the dead Richard's crown back to England in order to present it to the new English king, Richard's brother John. Surveying the scene of the fight, Robin finds a dying knight, Robert Loxley (Douglas Hodge). Loxley pleads with Robin to return his sword to his father in Nottingham. Robin reluctantly agrees and Loxley succumbs. Sizing up the situation Robin realizes that he and the companions who had fled with him from the English camp--two other common archers, Allan A'Dayle (Alan Doyle) and Will Scarlett (Scott Grimes), and a soldier Little John (Kevin Durand)--can impersonate the dead English escort party as a way of returning to England and can perhaps aggrandize themselves along the way. They strip the dead English soldiers of their arms and armour and don it themselves with Robin assuming the identity of the slain Loxley. Then, under the guise of the slain escort party, they head for the English ships on the coast.
Upon arriving in England, Robin (who has assumed the identity of Loxley) is brought to London and chosen to inform the Royal family of the King's death. He witnesses the coronation of King John (Oscar Isaac), the younger brother of Richard. John orders harsh taxes to be collected, sending Sir Godfrey off to the North to do so. He has no idea that Godfrey is a French agent who, using French troops, will use this Royal Decree to stir up enough unrest to cause civil war in England.
Robin and his companions head to Nottingham, where Loxley's elderly, blind father Sir Walter (Max von Sydow) asks him to continue impersonating his son, in order to prevent the family lands being taken by the crown. Loxley's widow, Lady Marian (Cate Blanchett), is initially distrustful of Robin, but soon warms to him when he recovers tithed grain for the townsfolk to plant.
Meanwhile, Godfrey's actions have stirred up the northern barons, who march to meet King John and demand the signing of a charter of rights. Having realized Godfrey's deception, and knowing he must reunite his people in order to meet an imminent French invasion, the King agrees. In Nottingham, Godfrey, hunting for Robin, fights with the Sir Walter, who is surprisingly skillful with a weapon, but being blind, is no match for Godfrey, who kills him.
Meanwhile, the French soldiers barricade all the townspeople in a building and burn it, except for Marian, who is under guard in another house. She kills her guard and escapes with the help of the village boys, who had recently been thieving running wild in Sherwood Forest. The King's army rides down into Nottingham and begins engaging the French, while Marian and the boys break open the house where the villagers are locked up. The French are subdued and Robin manages to glean when and where King Philip is invading.
The film climaxes on the beach below England's Cliffs of Dover with an attempted French invasion opposed by an English army. In the midst of the chaos Marian attempts to kill Godfrey, but he gains the upper hand and prepares to kill her. However Robin intervenes in the nick of time and he himself duels with Godfrey in the water. He is pushed between two boats, and has to submerge himself, and Godfrey manages to escape When the English appear to be victorious, Godfrey attempts to save himself by fleeing on horseback, but Robin shoots an arrow from long distance, piercing Godfrey's neck. When King John sees the English cheering for Robin instead of John, he senses a major threat to his power. Therefore, in the final scenes King John not only reneges on his promise to sign the Charter of the Forest but also declares Robin to be an outlaw, under the crime (usually punishable by death) of imposing himself as a knight. In response to this, Robin moves to Sherwood Forest with Lady Marian and his friends to form what will become the Merry Men of Sherwood Forest. The ending scenes are narrated by Marian, musing on how good life is in the Greenwood without the political problems and taxes of King John. And "So," the concluding scroll says, "the legend begins."
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