Robin Hood Trailer Hits All the Bloody Nu-Metal Marks

In addition to unveiling two new photo stills from the set of Robin Hood, Universal on Monday saw its first trailer for Ridley Scott's revisionist action epic released into the wild. I don't know what we all should have been expecting, but if you had "loud 90-second car commercial-meets-Gladiator" on your own prediction scorecard, please step forth and collect your winnings!

Don't take that pejoratively, either. One good multi-Oscar-winning, $467 million-grossing turn deserves another, and whatever medieval-era ambitions Scott botched with Kingdom of Heaven, he clearly has no intention of botching here. The misty, fetishized slo-mo and quick cuts are kind of self-parody in a way, but Crowe's growling, up-from-the-ocean bandit prince induces too much nostalgia to be too resentful of its redundancy. So Maximus is amphibious now? Great! Expert with a sword and an arrow? Terrific! Has his iPod on shuffle through great hard-rock hits of the '00s? It had to happen eventually. Be annoyed, but don't say you didn't see it coming -- or won't see it next spring.

VERDICT: Sold, with reservations.

· Robin Hood [Trailer Addict]