Hugh Jackman's R-Rated Fantasy Officially Passes New Streaming Milestone

Hugh Jackman is among the most beloved stars in the world. An entire generation knows him for his longest superhero stint as Wolverine across the entirety of the X-Men franchise. Fans thought the gritty, heart-wrenching Logan marked the end of his superhero era, but he reprised the role a couple of years ago in Deadpool & Wolverine. Fans worldwide celebrated his return, and the feature became the first R-rated MCU project, doing justice to both its leading characters.

But Jackman has a huge filmography full of dramatic roles, rom-coms, and many musicals. He appeared as a rival magician opposite Christian Bale in Christopher Nolan’s The Prestige and collaborated with Denis Villeneuve on Prisoners, playing a father desperate to find his abducted daughter. His musicals are even better with The Greatest Showman, where he plays P. T. Barnum, becoming a worldwide sensation and bagging him a Golden Globes nomination. Among his most underrated performances is this year’s The Death of Robin Hood. Michael Sarnoski wrote and directed the adaptation of the 17th-century ballad Robin Hood's Death and brilliantly deconstructs the cheerful, romanticized folklore to deliver a brutal, plaintive Robin Hood. Jackman portrays the broken icon as a deeply earnest, vulnerable man who is haunted by the cycle of violence he ignited.

Set in 1247 A.D., we follow an aged, grizzled Robin Hood (Jackman), who lives in self-imposed exile. A lifetime of theft, murder, and endless conflict has left him broken. Unlike the heroic champion of the poor, he is now a hardened, brutal thief whose violent past has spawned countless vengeful enemies. When his old companion Little John (Bill Skarsgård) tracks him down to help settle a personal score, the ensuing battle goes horribly wrong. Gravely wounded, Robin wakes up in a remote, tranquil island where he is cared for by Sister Brigid (Jodie Comer). When his past inevitably catches up with him, Robin finally confronts the cycle of violence he helped create.

The slow-burner examines the themes of the cycle of revenge, morality, and redemption. However, it failed to get a proper audience, earning $9.5 million worldwide on a $20 million budget. The movie's dark, morose tone, laced with an inconsistent second half, divided its audiences, where for once, critics gave it a higher Rotten Tomatoes rating of 69% against the audience’s 56% score.

'The Death of Robin Hood' Persists on Streaming

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Despite a lackluster performance in theatres, The Death of Robin Hood has been a persistent performer on streaming; the feature has spent over 80 days on Apple TV Store, as per FlixPatrol. Further, on a streamer like Amazon, it has spent nearly two months on the charts.