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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
It's hard to believe Ridley Scott's handsome epic won't become the cinematic touchstone of the Crusades for years to come. Kingdom of Heaven is greater than the sum of its parts, delivering a vital, mostly engrossing tale following Balian (Orlando Bloom), a lonely French blacksmith who discovers he's a noble heir and takes his father's (Liam Neeson) place in the center of the universe circa 1184: Jerusalem. Here, grand battles and backdoor politics are key as Scott and first-time screenwriter William Monahan fashion an excellent storyline to tackle the centuries-long conflict. Two forward-thinking kings, Baldwin (Edward Norton in an uncredited yet substantial role) and Saladin (Ghassan Massoud), hold an uneasy truce between Christians (who hold the city) and Muslims while factions champ at the bit for blood. There are good and evildoers on both sides, with the Knights Templar taking the brunt of the blame; Balian plans to find his soul while protecting Baldwin and the people. The look of the film, as nearly everything is from Scott, is impressive: his CGI-infused battle scenes rival the LOTR series and, with cinematographer John Mathieson, create postcard beauty with snowy French forests and the vast desert (filmed in Morocco and Spain). An excellent supporting cast, including Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, and David Thewlis, also help make the head and heart of the film work. Many critics pointed out that Bloom doesn't have the gravitas of Russell Crowe in the lead (then again, who does?), but it's the underdeveloped character and not the actor that hurts the film and impacts its power. Balian isn't given much more to do than be sullen and give an occasional big speech, alongside his perplexing abilities for warfare tactics and his wandering moral compass (whose sole purpose seems to be to put a love scene in the movie). Note: all the major characters except Neeson's are based on fact, but many are heavily fictionalized. --Doug Thomas
Kingdom of Heaven Reviews:
Kingdom of Heaven 
2009-12-27 - I strongly recommend this movie: the cast, special effects and acting are excellent. Orlando Bloom has an exceptional performance. It is historically very accurate and objective: most of the characters were real people and the portrait of Saladin the Islamic leader is outstanding. It also presents the dualism that was the main engine for the crusades: the materialism, the bad side that we are continuously reminded in the media and the idealism: Jerusalem not as a real city but an ideal to strive for: the Kingdom of Heaven. The movie has as a background the historical clash between Islam and Christianity that started since the birth of the former and where Christianity was most on the time on the defensive until the Crusades came about. This movie is a must for people who like history, epic movies, good acting and of course Orlando Bloom.
Great movie, disappointing blu-ray release. 
2009-12-23 - This is one of the greatest movies ever made, unfortunately, after getting rid of our dvd copy and buying it on blu-ray, we discovered that the blu-ray version only contains the movie and has none of the special features from the dvd release. We will be re-buying it on dvd.
Kingdom of Heaven
2009-11-21 - I've got mixed feelings about Ridley Scott's Medieval epic Kingdom of Heaven. On the one hand, it's a great movie and I've probably watched it half a dozen times so far. On the other hand, it seems like just another Hollywood propaganda film loaded with the same old "progressive" drivel we've been hearing for decades now. In this case, the message is pretty simple: organized religion is bad; multiculturalism is good. Luckily, the movie's good enough to make it worth watching despite the propaganda.
Briefly, Kingdom of Heaven tells the story of Balian, a blacksmith in France who joins his crusader father in the Holy Land, seeking forgiveness for murdering a priest and redemption for his wife who committed suicide. Knighted by his dying father, Balian enters the service of Baldwin, the leper king of Jerusalem, and ends up defending the city from a siege by the Muslims under Saladin after Baldwin dies and the Templars start a war under the new king, the evil Guy of Lusignan.
The movie presents Catholics as greedy, scheming, hypocritical, cowardly and strategically inept war-mongers who justify their atrocities as the "will of God." Muslim leaders like Saladin, on the other hand, along with pure knights like Balian, are shown as noble, enlightened types struggling to sustain a multicultural "Kingdom of Heaven" in Jerusalem where everybody lives side by side in joyful harmony regardless of race, creed, religion, blah, blah, blah. As usual, the forces of enlightenment and tolerance are surrounded by the forces of darkness--the evil Templars in particular. The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon get a very bad rap in this flick.
Now, I'm no fan of the Catholic Church and I don't know enough about the Crusades (yet) to say if any of this is historically accurate, but I really doubt if Twelfth Century Jerusalem was ruled by politically-correct liberals and it's hard to believe that Saladin was all that interested in living in peace and harmony with the Christian invaders. The not-so-hidden message in Kingdom of Heaven is basically just your standard "progressive liberalism" and New World Order multiculturalism dressed up in Medieval armor. In this sense, the movie seems completely ahistorical, a good example of Hollywood projecting its values onto the past.
Having said all that, however, I've got to admit that I really like this flick. Ridley Scott's a good director and there are moments in Kingdom of Heaven which achieve a real suspension of disbelief. Balian's suicidal cavalry charge in front of Raynald's castle; the coronation of Guy of Lusignan; the opening scenes in France; the funeral of King Baldwin, the leper: All of these scenes have a Medieval feel about them which makes Kingdom of Heaven one of the better historical movies I've seen. Ridley Scott (as usual) gets carried away with CGI effects--the armies are bigger, the siege machines more powerful than they could ever have been in real life--but the battle scenes are well done for the most part, very violent and grisly at times. You can preach Tolerance all you like, but people come for the battles. Movie violence is the Twenty-First Century equivalent of the gladiatorial games and Kingdom of Heaven delivers lots of blood and action.
The movie didn't do as well as it should have when it first came out, mostly, I think, because people saw it as "pro-Muslim" or at least pushing a message of tolerance towards Muslims which ran counter to the official anti-Muslim propaganda pouring out of Washington and the mainstream media at the time. To make things worse, the theatrical release apparently cut a lot of material which developed the background and made the themes more clear. To be fair to Ridley Scott, the studios forced him to cut the original movie from 194 minutes down to two hours, so over an hour of footage is missing in the original release, which is the only version I've seen so far. In any case, it's worth checking out. Just be aware that many of the values expressed in Kingdom of Heaven have more to do with Twentieth Century Hollywood than Medieval Jerusalem.
Ancient World Review
Fantastic historical movie
2009-11-09 - I can watch this movie over and over again. It is wonderfully made, historically interesting, and insightful about a formulative era of the World's religions.
Kingdom of Heaven looks heavenly colorful on Blu-Ray 
2009-11-02 - I was very dissapointed the Kingdom of Heaven was overlooked at the box office. Following the success of both Gladiator and Black Hawk Down, Ridley's Scott's tale of war and religion seemed like a sure thing when it hit theaters but it flopped, which is too bad because this is a very good film.
Kingdom of Heaven is Ridley's Scott's way of telling us that things haven't changed as much they sometimes seem. A thousand years ago we used to slaughter each other -in the name of God of all things- and a millenium later we still do. Of course, the film delves deeper into the issue by depicting the inner-struggle we all go through when it comes to this subject in the form of the main character, Balian, played by Orlando Bloom; (The Lord of the Rings) a man trying to find answers about himself, who by a twist of fate is thrown right in the middle of the religious and political battle in which he had nothing to do with. Balian goes from a grieving blacksmith in France to a Baron and knight trying to protect an ideal that might have never really existed.
Kingdom of Heaven arrives on Blu-Ray in the form of a Director's Cut with added content that did not make it to theaters. Apparently, the film was substantially trimmed to keep the running time friendly. Those who have seen this film know that the film is plenty long to begin with. This edition is not a series of "missing" or deleted scenes theat were put back but the restoration of major storylines that add a lot of weight to the overall film. If anything, the Directors Cut helps us to understand the circumstances that throw Balian into the events of the film. I don't want to give away anything to those who haven't watched the added content. Let's just say that the story and relationship between Balian and his father Godfrey is much more involved than it appears on the theatrical release. As a fan of the film I enjoyed the added content but must warn: We are talking about a substantial addition that considerably to the running time. Invariably the pacing becomes much slower, especially at the beggining where Scott takes his time explaining things this time around. It might not be for everyone.
I mention this because of the major flaw of this particular release: The original version of the film is not included here and apart from a theatrical trailer, there are no special features either. This is unacceptable. One of the major advantages of Blu-Ray technology is the added space. Why not have both versions of the film? And if you are going to just put the Director's Cut in there then at least put in some content that explains the logic behind this release in the form of commentaries, documentaries and the like. In that respect this disc is severly lacking.
In the High Definition front, this version of Kingdom of Heaven is a true revelation. When I saw this film in theaters and the (many)subsequent viewings on cable and DVD, I was curious about the color palette used in the film. The entire film seemed to be covered in a bluish hue reminiscent of the opening battle scene in Gladiator. Since it was consistent at the theater, DVD and cable TV I thought it was Scott's original intent. However, watching this film on Blu is like watching it for the first time. The colors simply come alive in HD. Primary colors (which were conspicously absent previously) come alive. Off the top of my head comes to mind the fight Balian has right after the shipwreck, where his oponent's clothing now literaly glows, the yellows popping out in the desert setting. There are other areas like the greens at the beggining of the film which take place in France and Balian's new inherited home. Heck, even the crab one of Godfrey's men puts in front of Balian shows reds I hadn't noticed before. I fail to recall a more perplexing change in color quality from theater to Blu-Ray. But colors are not the only thng that benefit from this HD release. Textures come alive as well. Maybe I simply wasn't paying attention but did you notice that the King of Jerusalem's mask has a gotee? Neither did I but in this release, it is clearly visible. That is the level of detail that has been achieved on this release.
Kingdom of Heaven is a very good film and they have made a wonderful transfer to HD for it. However the lack of special features and the almost criminal omision of the theatrical version keep me from giving it full marks.
