Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves

Nobleman crusader Robin of Locksley breaks out of a Jerusalem prison with the help of Moorish fellow prisoner Azeem and travels back home to England. But upon arrival he discovers his dead father in the ruins of his family estate, killed by the vicious sheriff of Nottingham, Robin and Azeem join forces with outlaws Little John and Will Scarlett to save the kingdom from the sheriff's villainy.

Critics at the time were sharply divided, with most major outlets finding the film overlong, tonally muddled, and let down by Kevin Costner's conspicuously American presence at its center — yet audiences embraced it enthusiastically, a gap that has only widened over the decades. Nearly everyone agreed that Alan Rickman's scenery-devouring Sheriff of Nottingham is the film's one genuine highlight, though critics differed on whether that performance is enough to salvage the surrounding spectacle.