Robin Hood (2010)

As with Gladiator, Ridley Scott directs and Russell Crowe is the main man. But the magic of that earlier film is not repeated.

It’s England in 1199 and there’s intrigue afoot, with a knight conspiring against King John of England (Oscar Isaac) with King Philip of France. Chaos and conflict ensue.

Rather than a simple tale of Robin Hood and his merry men, this is a fairly “serious” historical-drama treatment that deliberately veers away from the almost-pantomime silliness of the usual story – despite shoehorning in a lame, tokenistic Friar Tuck.

For a lengthy and sometimes complex film, there’s too little explanatory material and sometimes the narrative signposting is unclear. The motivations of Sir Godfrey (Mark Strong) and Sir Walter Loxley (Max von Sydow) aren’t always evident.

Ridley Scott’s usual visual flair is on display (he’s particularly expert at large, intense battle scenes), but it lacks Gladiator’s “special” factor – perhaps because Scott takes on too much at the expense of a single, cohesive story. The film attempts to detail the Robin Hood legend, retell a slice of actual English history and develop a credible romance scenario. Cate Blanchett makes for a refreshingly tough Maid Marian and seems to have real chemistry with Crowe, so I would have preferred more of their relationship and less messy muddying of myth and reality.

Crowe is always highly watchable but his constantly changing accent – did he think he was from Scotland, Northern Ireland or Yorkshire? – was a distraction.

The plot seemed to be setting up a sequel (Robin Hood only becomes the outlaw figure of legend in the closing minutes), but – several years later – that’s looking less and less likely.

Alien Covenant (2017)

Ridley Scott’s follow-up to Prometheus (the second in the Alien prequel saga) is an all-out space-action-horror affair. Michael Fassbender returns to the role of the creepy-genius droid David, but this time the same actor also plays a second, superficially similar droid with different programming.

A quick outline of the premise from Wikipedia: “In 2104, ten years after the Prometheus expedition, the colonization ship Covenant is seven years from reaching planet Origae-6, with 2,000 colonists in stasis and 1,140 human embryos in cold storage. The ship is monitored by Walter, an advanced android model that physically resembles David. When a shockwave damages the ship, Walter reanimates his 14 human crewmates, themselves couples/colonists. Ship's captain Jake Branson dies when his stasis pod malfunctions. While repairing the ship, the crew picks up a transmission of a human voice from a nearby planet, which appears eminently more habitable than Origae-6.”

The crew detour to the appealingly Earth-like planet, which, inevitably, is too good to be true. Before long, everything kicks off. As with Prometheus, the characters take stupid risks by walking around alone and with nothing to protect them. You just know someone is doomed when they wander off saying they will be back in a minute...

But the thrills are considerable. There are some remarkable scenes, such as an attempted take-off of the survivors’ rescue ship with the alien and the heroine Janet Daniels (Katherine Waterston) both clinging on to it. It’s like an action set-piece from a James Bond film, but set on another world and with monsters. The chase scenes in the Covenant corridors are also highly effective, but it lacks the haunting suspense and claustrophobia of the original Alien and is far less scary as a result.

The same themes about God, creation and the meaning of life are explored, but it’s tighter all round than Prometheus. It’s also more ambitious and convincing psychologically. Ridley Scott manages to have his cake and eat it, constructing a philosophical puzzler that simultaneously works as a guns ’n’ gore thriller.

American Gangster (2007)

Biographical drama by Ridley Scott. 

Russell Crowe plays Richie Roberts, a detective trying to track down and capture the gangster Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington). Lucas has made his fortune by smuggling heroin into the USA on military planes servicing the Vietnam War. 

The historical context is interesting and the film gets better as it progresses, but I found that the first half dragged. Crowe is always captivating, but Washington doesn’t boast the kind of charisma that his character would surely have needed to be such a powerful and controlling figure. 

Not up to Ridley Scott’s usual levels of skilled storytelling.

Black Hawk Down (2001)

Brutal military drama by Ridley Scott that details the US involvement in the 1993 civil war in Somalia.

A UN taskforce is sent into Mogadishu to capture the leader of the militia, Mohamed Farrah Hassan Aidid. It sounds straightforward enough, but the mission goes horribly wrong when a US helicopter is shot down. Chaos ensues, and the Americans seem naive and ill-prepared. You know there isn’t going to be a simple resolution or a happy ending.

The film is extremely violent – sometimes almost unbearably so. In no way does it glamorise war (you see body parts galore), but – perhaps inevitably – it does only show it from the Americans’ perspective.

The ensemble cast has no real star or focal point. This has the benefit of making it about the team rather than any one “hero”.

Being a Ridley Scott film, it looks stunning and the soldiers’ relentless, harrowing experience of being under constant attack is detailed brilliantly.

Prometheus (2012)


Ridley Scott’s prequel to his Alien series is a philosophical sci-fi/horror hybrid. It looked beautiful at the cinema – the storm rolling in across an alien landscape was terrifying – but far less so on DVD. My favourite effect is when the investigators throw mapping hover-balls into the alien chambers and the laser/sonar-type scanning technology relays an instant 3D-hologram model of the caves back to the computers aboard the spaceship. Impressive. Plus, the hi-tech “self-surgery” scene is pretty harrowing.

There are some slightly baffling plot elements – why did old man Weyland of the Weyland Corporation have to hide on the mission he himself funded? – possibly to be clarified in subsequent instalments of the series. The film asks some Big Questions. Who are we? Why are we here? What is life? Is a creator the same thing as a god? Can we explain ourselves with science or do we still need religion?

Noomi Rapace and Michael Fassbender are tremendous in the lead roles. It’s a nice touch that the latter’s character models himself on Peter O'Toole in Lawrence of Arabia, which he watches while acting as caretaker on the long voyage of the Prometheus.

Guy Pearce is much less convincing as a decrepit old man. Why not simply use an elderly actor? The worst aspect is the bit-part characters, crew members Millburn and Fifield, who are so badly drawn and one-dimensional that you know from the very beginning they will have to meet a horrible, untimely death. This is a weakness of so many films that you would have thought Ridley Scott would have been able to avoid such a standard pitfall. Imagine how much more powerful the story would be if those minor characters convinced you they were real enough to make you care.

Another thing that simply doesn’t work is the lack of precaution the scientists take. They remove their helmets while investigating alien lifeforms, gleefully unconcerned that they may be exposing themselves to something very nasty indeed. Maybe that adds drama but it also makes the plot less convincing, and anything that makes you question the credibility of what you are watching erodes some of the magic.

And finally, maybe I missed something, but if the aliens seeded life on Earth in the first place (as the archaeologists’ discovery of cave paintings seemed to suggest), why did they want to return with their sticky black goo as a toxic weapon? Or will that all be explained in Alien Covenant?

Overall, it’s engaging without being satisfying.

Napoleon (2023)

Visually stunning biopic of the French emperor, chronicling his rise to power across a sequence of epic battles, phenomenally shot by Ridley Scott. 

Joaquin Phoenix is perfect in the lead role, underplaying rather than overplaying the part. It’s a simmering performance full of nuance and strength. 

Central to the story is his relationship with Joséphine, brilliantly portrayed by Vanessa Kirby.

There's a lot to cram in, in terms of historical events and the surrounding context, and Scott does this without cluttering the story or making it unwieldy. At 157 minutes, it's long but it doesn't outstay its welcome.

Aliens (1986)

Ridley Scott’s original 1979 Alien film managed to be amazingly subtle for a space-monster horror film. It was built on excellent pacing, characterisation and suspense. For some reason, James Cameron’s 1986 sequel is like a Vietnam war parody with the emphasis on more monsters, more action and a lot more shooting. The section showing the marines getting ready – accompanied by clichéd “military drumming” – is almost like an episode of The A-Team. This film is in love with weaponry – there are long, lingering shots of machine guns, etc. The supporting characters are poor and the dialogue is weak, with important moments given clunky lines such as “Die, you bitch!” The cry-baby character (who loses it completely) is particularly unconvincing: could they really not find a better actor? The young girl, “Newt”, adds cutesy sentimental value. Sigourney Weaver has huge presence, as always, but the material just isn’t up to her talents. It’s surprising that this very disappointing film is rated so highly when it lacks all the qualities that made the original so compelling.

Body of Lies (2008)

Intelligent Ridley Scott CIA thriller that’s extremely gripping. 

The CIA operative on the ground is Leonardo DiCaprio and his superior is Russell Crowe. They are attempting to track down a terrorist called al-Saleem. 

Mark Strong plays the head of Jordanian Intelligence. Oscar Isaac is a CIA field operative in Iraq. And Rahavard Farahani plays a nurse who DiCaprio falls for and thus endangers. 

All of these actors are superb in their roles. 

It’s a complex web of connections and locations. It’s extremely violent for a “15”, with scenes of torture and close-ups of shootings. The use of drone-sourced visuals gives it an appealing tech-heavy feel.

Black Rain (1989)

Directed by Ridley Scott, this has something of that director's classic Blade Runner about it – in terms of the visuals, at least. But whereas that was a hugely imaginative sci-fi crime masterpiece, this is merely a reasonably OK thriller.

Michael Douglas plays a New York cop assigned to escort a Japanese assassin back to Japan. When that ruthless killer outwits him, he’s plunged into the criminal underworld.

Andy Garcia has a certain charm as his colleague, and he should have been featured more prominently. Douglas himself looks unwell and it’s unclear whether he’s just being “method” about the character or whether the actor himself is going through a difficult patch. The charisma is unchanged, however – Douglas always has a certain presence, whatever the film. 

The film is arguably quite racist, peddling quite a few clichés about Japanese culture.

Alien (1979)

Ridley Scott’s sci-fi horror masterpiece still looks fantastic and is just as chilling as ever. 

Sigourney Weaver plays Ripley, a warrant officer on the cargo ship Nostromo. The ship picks up a signal from a moon, indicating unexpected life. While investigating, the crew accidentally adopt an alien creature that threatens not just all of them but humanity itself.

Weaver is great in the main role – tough but compassionate, and smart and intuitive in a way that her colleagues aren’t.

It works because it’s mostly about the suspense rather than the monsters, although what you do see of the aliens is terrifying enough.

A long line of sequels and prequels would follow as Alien developed into a franchise, but none of them came close to this original.

Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

Ridley Scott is responsible for at least six great films (Alien, Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down, Body of Lies, Gladiator and Thelma & Louise), so it’s difficult to articulate just how disappointing this tepid 12th-century historical epic turns out to be. It’s a muddled account of power and politics set during the Crusades. 

Orlando Bloom underwhelms as the blacksmith hero descended from Baron Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson). After just one lesson from his dad, he becomes a master swordsman. There’s too much of him wandering around, ponderously contemplating his destiny and feeling “significant”. 

Eva Green (as Sibylla of Jerusalem) and Jeremy Irons (Raymond III of Tripoli) both try to do their best with the material, but – as with everyone in this film – their “characters” are sketchy outlines at best. They both look like they wish they were elsewhere. 

Even the visuals aren’t particularly impressive as the big battle scenes are ruined by endless slow-motion shots that take you out of the action rather than enhancing it.

Plot-wise, it’s confusing. Not only does it fail to provide any historical context about the Crusades, but it’s also completely lacking in terms of character motivations. You’re left unsure why anyone is doing whatever they are doing, and not really caring either.

The ending is a mess, too. The film peters out with very little resolved. A director’s cut adds 45 minutes that supposedly improve the film and help it to make sense, but if this standard edition wasn’t good enough it probably shouldn’t have been issued in the first place.

The Martian (2015)

A sci-fi disaster/survival masterpiece based on Andy Weir's gripping 2011 novel. This is an incredible film – dramatic and terrifying, but also surprisingly funny and moving. 

Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is stranded alone on Mars when a vicious storm forces his mission to be aborted and the rest of the crew have to abandon him in their escape. Much of the story details Watney’s attempts to stay alive on the planet by drawing on his resourcefulness and extraordinary positivity. He manages to extend his survival time by farming potatoes. Another major thread covers the NASA rescue plans being debated and prepared on Earth. Meanwhile, the original mission crew (with Jessica Chastain as the commander) are in transit back home when the opportunity to turn around and save Watney becomes a possibility...

There’s so much that’s great about The Martian:

• It looks amazing, like most of Ridley Scott's work. Those vast, red Martian landscapes are striking and seem incredibly real. 

• The music is perfectly chosen (Watney is stranded with a load of disco classics) and is expertly matched to various scenes. The collage segments set to David Bowie’s "Starman" and Abba’s "Waterloo" are among the absolute highlights of the film. 

• The casting is excellent: Sean Bean, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor and Kristen Wiig are all ideal in their parts. Every character counts, and so does every line of dialogue.

• The drama is perfectly paced, building to an unbearable tension in the final moments. But despite that I found myself smiling or laughing for quite a lot of the 141-minute running time. 

One other thought: it's interesting that so many of the best films of the past few years – Arrival, Gravity, Moon, Passengers and this one – have all been sci-fi.

Blade Runner: The Final Cut (2007)

Ridley Scott’s masterpiece (originally released in 1982) is also Harrison Ford’s greatest film. In the Los Angeles of 2019, a cop has to track down and terminate four “more human than human” robots (or “replicants”) who have turned murderous as their four-year lifespan is about to expire. It’s wonderful on so many levels:
• The super-atmospheric soundtrack by Vangelis.
• The dark, dank visuals that so convincingly create a world and which have proved so influential on other films.
• The way it plays with genre. Is it sci-fi, horror, film noir, existential drama or a detective story? It’s all of those.
• The perfect cast: Rutger Hauer and Daryl Hannah are so convincing that you never once doubt that they are synthetic beings. Sean Young is also perfectly not-quite-right as the replicant who believes she’s human until all her illusions are crushed.
• The philosophical depth of it. What is life? What is humanity? How should we best use the little time we have?
• The exciting plot that builds to a remarkable and unexpected resolution.
• The restraint of it. No one over-acts. And Harrison Ford looks genuinely frightened when he’s being pursued. It’s the opposite of a shoot-’em-up cop film, or rather an extremely sophisticated version of one.

This is the third version of Blade Runner I’ve seen and they are all valuable in their own ways.

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

A sequel to the 1982 masterpiece, set 30 years later. Ryan Gosling plays K, the replicant seeking answers about his origins. It transpires that in one unprecedented instance, a replicant gave birth. That replicant was Rachael from the first film. K’s discovery of this knowledge begins a quest that ultimately leads him to Deckard (Harrison Ford), who he believes to be his father. But the sinister Wallace Corporation also wants to understand replicant breeding for its own ends.

It's visually stunning – possibly even more so than the original – and asks similarly deep philosophical questions about life, identity and memory. For a few reasons, though, Denis Villeneuve's film does not satisfy in the way that Ridley Scott’s does. Firstly, it’s simply too long (163 minutes). Some of the scenes are ponderous and slow. You can sit back to admire the expansive, luxurious quality or you can become infuriated with the glacial pace. The villains (Sylvia Hoeks and Jared Leto) didn’t quite convince. And too much of the film was given over to Gosling’s time with his synthetic “hologram” girlfriend (Ana de Armas). I liked her as a character, but – other than filling in details of how relationships and technology work in 2049 – this plot didn’t really lead anywhere. 

Harrison Ford’s appearance was surprisingly successful. I had feared it would be a tokenistic attempt to drag the star of the original back on screen for the sake of “sequel credibility”, but they wisely built the plot around him – even though he’s barely in it. And unlike in Star Wars Episode VII, where he’s depicted as the same Han Solo except older, with no character development at all, here he seems wiser and not in any way ridiculous.

I’d like to see it again, and on a big screen. With the plot twists now fully understood, I think I could get more out of it on second viewing.

Gladiator (2000)

This Ridley Scott-directed modern classic set in AD 180 seemed even better second time around. It looked more impressive at the cinema in 2000, but it moved me more deeply on DVD today in 2018. Russell Crowe is hugely charismatic as Maximus. He never lets you down, does he? Joaquin Phoenix is creepily compelling as the insecure, self-pitying Commodus (although, having seen I Walk the Line, I had to not think of him as Johnny Cash). In a less imaginative script this villain could have been a cardboard-cut-out baddie, but Gladiator is sophisticated enough that Commodus is sympathetic as well as repulsive. Connie Nielsen is excellent as the sister who Commodus wants an incestuous relationship with. The all-star cast also features Oliver Reed (shortly before his death), Richard Harris and Derek Jacobi.

I like the way it starts out as one kind of film (the story of a Roman general), then detours into the saga of a slave-turned-gladiator-turned-superstar-folk-hero, before somehow coming full circle as Maximus attempts to save Rome. To its credit, the film doesn’t take the obvious paths. The story seems to be pointing to one kind of resolution and surprises you more than once before the ending.

As a piece of riveting drama it’s pretty much unbeatable. Even though it’s long, I found it almost ridiculously exciting. There’s little you could change to improve it: stunning visuals, stirring music, an epic sweep, a nail-biting plot escalation and an emotional climax.

Morgan (2016)

Grisly sci-fi/horror drama directed by Ridley Scott’s son Luke. 

A “risk-management specialist” (Kate Mara) is sent to a scientific facility in a rural location where the L-9 artificial being has been created. This being (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) is a super-advanced augmented human but with a violent side that begins to cause problems when she turns on one of the staff. To complicate things further, those members of staff have personally invested in Morgan as their precious daughter and seem bewitched by her incredibly advanced development. 

Like Blade Runner, the film raises moral questions about the value of human life when it’s not entirely human. Unlike that innovative classic, it has a rather unpleasant aesthetic – a deliberate cold, nasty quality. It’s also extremely violent – which is kind of the point – but the later sections make for horrible viewing. Expertly made as it may be, I found it difficult to take much away from the film.

A Good Year (2006)

Adapted by Ridley Scott from Peter Mayle’s novel, this is a surprisingly low-key drama. Russell Crowe stars as Max, a London-based trader who inherits his uncle’s home and vineyard in Provence. He travels to the estate, which he plans to sell, but slowly becomes absorbed into a simpler, quieter way of life and falls for a local (Marion Cotillard). Albert Finney plays Uncle Henry, who we only get to meet in flashback, and Abbie Cornish plays the young Californian visitor who may or may not be his daughter.

It’s appealing escapism, but ultimately it’s light, forgettable fluff. The scenic locations look nice and there’s a lot of wine. But the wine sub-plot isn’t satisfyingly explained: was the lousy produce being used to jinx the sale of the estate or was it intended to obscure their better wines as part of a shady business trick?

An enjoyable enough two hours, it only works because Crowe is so charismatic and magnetic.