Freeman uses a telescope, which wasn't invented until 1608. While lenses, etc. had been developed earlier and in different areas of the world, it is simply not possible that he would have a working telescope that early. See: http://es.rice.edu/ES/humsoc/Galileo/Things/telescope.html. [The "telescope" that he uses is 2 lens at ends of a rolled piece of leather. Polished lens with optical properties such as the Visby lens have been found in the 11th century tombs of Vikings. As the Arab world of the time was more advanced in many scientific areas, it is not inconceivable that they had developed simple telescopic devices.]

Robin says that the last thing he said to his father was an argument about having a lover in the village (who was Will's mother). He later says that he was 6 years old when this happened. Taking into account the characters' (or at least actors') ages, Robin must have been on the crusades for a very long time and from an unusually young age. [No. He was six when his father had the lover, but the argument took place when they were both adults. Robin held some bitterness over the issue for several years, feeling as though his father had betrayed his dead mother.]

Given the period in time and the "wanted" posters of Robin,did the Sheriff of Nottingham invent the printing press before Guttenburg or Caxton? [Why would the posters have to be printed on a printing press? Given that we only see one or two posters throughout the course of the movie, the Sheriff could have had someone draw posters by hand and have them placed in strategic locations.]

When Robin, Azeem, and Duncan are walking through Sherwood Forest, they hear noises and Azeem draws his sword. There's a distinct sound of metal on metal, like a straight sword would make being pulled out. But a Saracen sword can't be drawn out like that, since the tip is larger than the base. But if you look at Azeem's sword sheath, it appears to be exactly the shape and size of the sword. It would have to open up sideways or something to conceivably get the sword out. [The sheath for Azeem's sword is not open only at the top. It has a slit on the back so the sword may be drawn.]

The mistake pretty much all Robin Hood films make is to have the Sheriff of Nottingham simply called 'Nottingham' by his friends/ peers. This would only be the case with the Earl or Lord of Nottingham who, coincidentally, would have lived in Nottingham Castle (since it would have been his family's). The Sheriff didn't live in Nottingham as his duties covered the whole shire ('shire-reeve'= 'Sheriff'). It'd be like confusing the Governor of California with the Mayor of Los Angeles. [This isn't necessarily a movie mistake. It sounds more like arrogance on the part of the sheriff, expecting his associates to call him "Nottingham." His enemies do so only because that is what they are accustomed to hearing him called.]

When Costner escapes after slashing Rickman's face, Rickman starts beating up the guard at the gate who let him get away. The shot is at right angles to Rickman throwing the last punch so we can see that his fist misses the guard's face by miles. [I've seen this movie countless times and I always thought this was intentional. The sheriff was so flustered that he missed. It fits with his next action of tearing his cloak as he tries to stalk away.]

At the end when King Richard makes a surprise appearance at the wedding, Marion calls him by his first name, and remains standing while everyone else bows. It's unlikely that she would show so little decorum, considering he's the king. Being a semi-distant relative would not give her the right to be so casual with him, especially in public, and at a time when sometimes kings' immediate families addressed them as "Your Majesty." [But considering he's a fictionalized version of Richard the Lionheart, and he seems remarkably informal with her in return, it is a more than safe assumption that the matter has been addresed long since, with Richard asking, if not telling Marian not to be so formal with him. Much like Elizabeth Swann asked repeatedly of Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.]

In the hanging scene, the executioner steps out in public and THEN puts on his hood. The idea of the hood was that people would not know who he was, but his face is visible to the crowd gathered, so there was little point in him putting on the hood after all. [This is a character mistake at best. In many medieval communities, people knew who the local executioner was regardless of whether he covered his face or not (often, criminals were sentenced to being executioners, or people could figure out his identity based on bodily distinctions). If the crowd knew who the executioner were and what he looked like, the hood would be used more out of tradition, and not to hide his identity. So it is possible that the headsman in this movie simply did not care to hide himself.]

When Robin is burying his father, he cuts his hand saying, "I swear it by my own blood" and that he will avenge his fathers murder. We clearly see the blood dripping over his fingers. Suddenly the camera shot changes and Robin's hand has miraculously healed and the blood washed away. [You can see that Robin wears a bandage around his hand up until the point they go to Sherwood Forest. The wound does not just disappear.]

When Robin and Marian descend on the rope together, when they are on the ground the rope should be completely firm from the counterweight, but instead it is dangling loosely. [The firmness of the rope would depend of how the system was made so when the rope is at the bottom it might not be firm.]

At the beginning when the prisoners have escaped into the city, they come out through a manhole cover, now I doubt that Jerusalem would have had manholes that far back. [The Indus Valley civilisation had covered sewerage systems in their cities as early as 2500BC, a mere 3500 years before the events of the film. The ancient Romans had them, too, and they were responsible for much rebuilding in Jerusalem - it's hardly likely that they would have left out their sanitation methods while doing so.]

When the survivors of the Sherwood battle decide to go to Nottingham, Friar Tuck calls them all "daft buggers." It is very clear that his mouth is not moving. [John Little says "daft buggers" not Friar Tuck.]

The Sheriff of Nottingham refers to swords being forged from Spanish steel shortly before stabbing his cousin. After the stabbing he again says, "This is good steel." Steel wasn't invented until the 19th century. [Rubbish. Steel was first produced in Cyprus around 1100 BC (as far as we know. It could have been invented earlier, but the oldest surviving artifacts are from this age). This was a very inferior carburized iron, but the principal technique spread and by the year 900 AD Middle Eastern smiths could make "Damascus steel", which is said to be ideal for swords. The "Spanish Steel" the Sheriff talks about probably mean that the blade was made in Toledo, a city famous for making excellent swordsteel since the early Middle Ages.]

When Robin has just stolen the Sheriffs horse he picks up a bag of food, which he hits a soldier with. When he rides out of the gates (in the same scene) he throws the bag behind him. However, in the next scene, back at the 'hide-out' he has the bag of food with him. [He doesn't throw the bag behind him, he carries it over his shoulder. What he throws off is the disguise he's wearing.]

When Robin shoots Will through the hand the arrow clearly misses by a mile and passes off screen, Will already has the arrow in his hand and you can see both at the same time. [It's not the arrow that you can see, it's the dagger thats in Will's hand that falls down screen from his hand.]

This is only relevant to the extended version DVD. At the start of the bonus scene where the Sheriff finds the hole, the scribe writes on a blackboard "How is your bride?". The "s" looks like it does today (i.e. snake shape). Until the early 19th century, the "s" was written to look more like an "f." [The "long" s (that looks like an f) was only used in the middle of a word. The familiar "short" s was used at the end of a word.]

When the Celts storm the forest hideaway, Costner kneels down and fires at the horsemen. He fires the first arrow into a man's chest. The second arrow goes into the same man (posing as a different one) from a different angle and he falls off. [It's not the same man. The only reason it looked like the same man was because all the Celts had that design painted around their eyes.]

In the extended version where the Sheriff finds out Mortianna the Witch is his mother, something doesn't make sense. Mortianna says she killed a baby from the castle and replaced it with her own (the infant Sheriff). What would that achieve? As far as anyone in the castle is concerned it would be the same baby and there'd be a new mad old crone hanging around saying it was her charge. She'd be burnt as a witch. Alternatively, they'd realise it was a different baby and Mortianna would still be burnt as a witch and a murderess. Either way, it doesn't make sense that Mortianna would have managed to have stay with the Sheriff whilst he grew up. [You are assuming that Mortianna had told her story to others. If she never told anyone that she had had a baby, nobody would know, and her child would grow up in a richer and better household than she could provide. She only tells him when he is grown up. In addition, Mortianna has the protection of the Prince. This makes it very difficult to have her burned, and as we can see it lets her practice her witchcraft quite freely.]

In the shot when Robin Hood, dressed as a beggar, enters the chapel during mass, look in the lower right hand corner. You will see the sheriff in the foreground, slightly out-of-focus, smiling very broadly and uncharacteristically to someone off camera. [He could have been smiling at a nobleman or someone else he would like to have a good relationship with in order to get his way with them.]

98% of characters mentioned or featured in this film are entirely fictional, so saying that they didn't exist isn't really a mistake. However the Sheriff of Nottingham is called 'George' at one point. The Sheriff in 1194 and up to the 1200's was Eustace of Edwinstowe. I'm not making that up, even the flimsiest historical research will uncover that fact. The film-makers obviously thought it too much trouble. [Yes, almost all characters are fictional, and the entire story is a work of fiction. In fiction you can have whatever name you wish for the sheriff. Kind of how you can make a movie set in 2002 with a president main character who isn't named George.]