Kingdom of Heaven (B- or 2.5/4 stars)
'Kingdom of Heaven' is a Crusades epic directed by the great Ridley Scott. His Gladiator was wonderful; a rousing tale about codes of honor & exalted heroes. But this film is a bit of a beautiful mess. Medieval France, 1184: Balian (Orlando Bloom) is a simple blacksmith who doesn't believe in God or religion. This is because his wife recently committed suicide. And when a familial priest (Michael Sheen) condemns her to Hell (for her manner of her death), Balian kills him. The authorities are now hot on his trail. Meanwhile, Baron Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson), a knight & crusader, strolls into town & tells Balian that he is his father; encouraging Balian to venture to Jerusalem with him for better prospects in economy, & more 'opportunities'.
Medieval Europe was just god awful & Jerusalem was a far better place to start a life. Balian resists. But after a slew of Godfrey's knights die while saving Balian from the authorities, he sees this sacrifice & decides to defend Jerusalem from Muslim invaders by becoming a knight. Months later, after surviving a shipwreck, Balian arrives in Jerusalem as an ally of the leper king, Baldwin IV (Edward Norton, hiding his face behind a silver mask; quite the haunting figure), & the Marshall of Jerusalem, Tiberias (Jeremy Irons). Now a Lord, Balian uses his power to build shelters & provide water to the helpless residents in Jerusalem. Sadly, Baldwin IV dies, & Balian (inexplicably) is asked to become King (is there no one else in Jerusalem who is fit to be King?). In any case, Balian refuses, & one of the most influential men in the king's inner circle, Guy de Lusignan (Martin Csokas) steps up to be King.
Guy takes an instant dislike to Balian. But that doesn't stop him from having an affair (however unexciting in the grand scheme of the movie) with Guy's wife, Sibylla, the Princess of Jerusalem (Eva Green). Meanwhile, in the lands surrounding the Holy City, the Arab leader Saladin (a stellar Ghassan Massoud) is massing an army of 200,000 men to take back Jerusalem from the Christians who have occupied it for 100 years. So Guy de Lusignan opens war with them over control of Jerusalem. But Balian wishes that Jerusalem could be a Kingdom of Heaven where Muslims, Jews & Christians could live, worship, & prosper together. And after the climax (where Balian surrenders the city to Saladin, to stop the mass death), we see that Balian gets his wish, if only for a blip on history's radar.
OK. I respect that Ridley Scott loves history. And I'm not offended that he tinkers with history to create a entertaining piece of art. But this film is so self-serious about its subject matter that it threatens to collapse under the weight of its seriousness. One second we see a quiet, introvert in Balian, & the next, he is whirling a huge sword around; thinking about being King of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, we are introduced to a flurry of characters, but most lend little to the proceedings. And while the film is reasonably well-acted, the dialogue in certain scenes felt labored; as if spoken just for the purpose to have something said - I loathe that. You know, the lengthy theatrical version feels like a lot is missing (links from scene to scene are choppy). I've now seen the 3-hour Director's Cut (adding nearly 40 extra minutes). And while some of the plot holes are thankfully filled in and, while improvements are made ... it's still a long movie with problems.
One of the aspects I appreciate most in 'Kingdom of Heaven' is that fact that Ridley gives a lot of screen time to the Muslim conflict/characters. Without it, the movie would fail, & it's only fair as a storyteller to give ample time to both sides of the picture, anyway. Christians & Muslims have always had problems, but I like that Scott shows some mutual respect & understanding btwn. them (as evidenced in the avoidance of the final massacre). I also respect Scott's production team. Each scene where battle took place was feverishly re-created; with an impressive set built to model ancient Jerusalem. The cinematography is phenomenal; as are the lavish costumes, some stunning make-up work, & a stirring musical score. A major reason to see this film, at all, is for the spectacle.
Orlando Bloom is a decent actor, with an amiable physical presence. But that's not what's really called for with the character of Balian. I never fully believed him as a knight, possible king, or leader of the Christian army. I didn't see a killer instinct in Balian. He wasn't brooding or forceful enough in his actions to pull off Balian. And being that he is onscreen for a good duration of the film, it's a bigger issue than I figured it would be. The other major character of note is Sibylla, played by Eva Green. She has little charisma, here; and her pensive face started to irk me. What was she ever looking at? What was she thinking? Who cares!? Again, she, and the shoehorned subplot involving her affair with Balian, comes across much better in the Director's Cut - but it's not enough.
There is a redundancy of battles scenes: just like in Lord of the Rings, Troy, King Arthur, & Alexander (the list goes on), we see giant balls of flame, catapults, wooden towers, bows, arrows, sword combat, & rally speeches from the main character (haven't seen those before, rolling my eyes). I felt like I was watching the Battle of Helm's Deep (Two Towers) all over again. I'll quote my friend Debbie, 'Where were the Oliphaunts?'. And in fact, the rally speeches (I mentioned), as proclaimed in past films by Gibson in Braveheart, Pitt in Troy, & Crowe in Gladiator were superior to Bloom's speech. I mean, if you're going to have a story involving vast deserts, horses, armor, swords, shields, bows, arrows, & gore ... change it up from prior films!
I also wasn't wild about the depiction of politics in this film. There's little to ponder, as it failed to make me think deeply about the terror of the Crusades. Most of the story involves moral decisions that Balian has to make, & the rest involves the battles. The only thing I learned is that both then & now, it is the extremists on both the Christian & Muslim sides who start Holy Wars. Scott aimed to please audiences with big draws like Orlando Bloom (failed, a bit), Liam Neeson (his small role left an impact, but he's underused), romance (invented for the plot, & never sizzles), historical references (disjointed), & action sequences (that are too familiar). Everything was there to make this film an astounding success, but it never fully "bloomed".
Medieval Europe was just god awful & Jerusalem was a far better place to start a life. Balian resists. But after a slew of Godfrey's knights die while saving Balian from the authorities, he sees this sacrifice & decides to defend Jerusalem from Muslim invaders by becoming a knight. Months later, after surviving a shipwreck, Balian arrives in Jerusalem as an ally of the leper king, Baldwin IV (Edward Norton, hiding his face behind a silver mask; quite the haunting figure), & the Marshall of Jerusalem, Tiberias (Jeremy Irons). Now a Lord, Balian uses his power to build shelters & provide water to the helpless residents in Jerusalem. Sadly, Baldwin IV dies, & Balian (inexplicably) is asked to become King (is there no one else in Jerusalem who is fit to be King?). In any case, Balian refuses, & one of the most influential men in the king's inner circle, Guy de Lusignan (Martin Csokas) steps up to be King.
Guy takes an instant dislike to Balian. But that doesn't stop him from having an affair (however unexciting in the grand scheme of the movie) with Guy's wife, Sibylla, the Princess of Jerusalem (Eva Green). Meanwhile, in the lands surrounding the Holy City, the Arab leader Saladin (a stellar Ghassan Massoud) is massing an army of 200,000 men to take back Jerusalem from the Christians who have occupied it for 100 years. So Guy de Lusignan opens war with them over control of Jerusalem. But Balian wishes that Jerusalem could be a Kingdom of Heaven where Muslims, Jews & Christians could live, worship, & prosper together. And after the climax (where Balian surrenders the city to Saladin, to stop the mass death), we see that Balian gets his wish, if only for a blip on history's radar.
OK. I respect that Ridley Scott loves history. And I'm not offended that he tinkers with history to create a entertaining piece of art. But this film is so self-serious about its subject matter that it threatens to collapse under the weight of its seriousness. One second we see a quiet, introvert in Balian, & the next, he is whirling a huge sword around; thinking about being King of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, we are introduced to a flurry of characters, but most lend little to the proceedings. And while the film is reasonably well-acted, the dialogue in certain scenes felt labored; as if spoken just for the purpose to have something said - I loathe that. You know, the lengthy theatrical version feels like a lot is missing (links from scene to scene are choppy). I've now seen the 3-hour Director's Cut (adding nearly 40 extra minutes). And while some of the plot holes are thankfully filled in and, while improvements are made ... it's still a long movie with problems.
One of the aspects I appreciate most in 'Kingdom of Heaven' is that fact that Ridley gives a lot of screen time to the Muslim conflict/characters. Without it, the movie would fail, & it's only fair as a storyteller to give ample time to both sides of the picture, anyway. Christians & Muslims have always had problems, but I like that Scott shows some mutual respect & understanding btwn. them (as evidenced in the avoidance of the final massacre). I also respect Scott's production team. Each scene where battle took place was feverishly re-created; with an impressive set built to model ancient Jerusalem. The cinematography is phenomenal; as are the lavish costumes, some stunning make-up work, & a stirring musical score. A major reason to see this film, at all, is for the spectacle.
Orlando Bloom is a decent actor, with an amiable physical presence. But that's not what's really called for with the character of Balian. I never fully believed him as a knight, possible king, or leader of the Christian army. I didn't see a killer instinct in Balian. He wasn't brooding or forceful enough in his actions to pull off Balian. And being that he is onscreen for a good duration of the film, it's a bigger issue than I figured it would be. The other major character of note is Sibylla, played by Eva Green. She has little charisma, here; and her pensive face started to irk me. What was she ever looking at? What was she thinking? Who cares!? Again, she, and the shoehorned subplot involving her affair with Balian, comes across much better in the Director's Cut - but it's not enough.
There is a redundancy of battles scenes: just like in Lord of the Rings, Troy, King Arthur, & Alexander (the list goes on), we see giant balls of flame, catapults, wooden towers, bows, arrows, sword combat, & rally speeches from the main character (haven't seen those before, rolling my eyes). I felt like I was watching the Battle of Helm's Deep (Two Towers) all over again. I'll quote my friend Debbie, 'Where were the Oliphaunts?'. And in fact, the rally speeches (I mentioned), as proclaimed in past films by Gibson in Braveheart, Pitt in Troy, & Crowe in Gladiator were superior to Bloom's speech. I mean, if you're going to have a story involving vast deserts, horses, armor, swords, shields, bows, arrows, & gore ... change it up from prior films!
I also wasn't wild about the depiction of politics in this film. There's little to ponder, as it failed to make me think deeply about the terror of the Crusades. Most of the story involves moral decisions that Balian has to make, & the rest involves the battles. The only thing I learned is that both then & now, it is the extremists on both the Christian & Muslim sides who start Holy Wars. Scott aimed to please audiences with big draws like Orlando Bloom (failed, a bit), Liam Neeson (his small role left an impact, but he's underused), romance (invented for the plot, & never sizzles), historical references (disjointed), & action sequences (that are too familiar). Everything was there to make this film an astounding success, but it never fully "bloomed".