rating:
(out of
4 stars)United Kingdom, Spain, United States, Germany; 2005
Directed by Ridley Scott; produced by Ridley Scott; written by William Monahan
Starring Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Edward Norton, Eva Green, Brendan Gleeson, Jeremy Irons, Michael Sheen
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
'Kingdom of Heaven' is a repetition of things we have seen before, but
director Ridley Scott does it better than usual and therefore the film is
well worth seeing. Like Scott's other historical epic 'Gladiator', the film
uses real people and real events to mix them all up into a fictional story
that at least catches the essence of how things might have happened.
'Kingdom of Heaven' tells of the crusades, of blacksmith Balian (Orlando
Bloom) who joins his father Godfrey (Liam Neeson) on his journey to
Jerusalem. By the time Balian arrives there a truth exists between the
Christians, lead by King Baldwin (Edward Norton), and the Muslims, lead by
Saladin (Ghassan Massoud). By that time Godfrey, one of the king's
followers, is killed and Balian has claimed his father's title. King
Baldwin, who is dying, and another good guy named Tiberias (Jeremy Irons)
have plans for Balian to rule the Christians but he refuses. Then King
Baldwin dies and the husband of the king's sister Sibylla (Eva Green) named
Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas) becomes king. All he wants is war with the
Muslims. He gets what he wants.
All this leads up to a great battle around Jerusalem. The Christians, by
that time with Balian as their leader, defend the city and Saladin and his
army try to get within the city walls. Where I didn't like Scott's opening
battle in 'Gladiator' he provides this film with one of the best battles I
have seen on film. For me moments from 'Braveheart' are unmatched, but I was
really impressed here. The direction is terrific the entire film but
especially in this scene Scott knows what he wants us to see and he
delivers. On a technical scale the film is superb. Not only direction, but
also the cinematography, art direction and set decoration, costumes and
score are very good.
Unfortunately the film has flaws on other levels. I admire the story for the
way it shows events without taking sides, but on the other hand it has the
real hero in Balian. Orlando Bloom, who is a perfect as a charming boy (see
'Pirates of the Caribbean'), is not really a muscle man who can carry a film
like this. He is better than Brad Pitt in 'Troy' or Colin Farrell in
'Alexander' but he is no Mel Gibson or Russell Crowe. I would say the same
kind of thing for Eva Green. I liked her in 'The Dreamers' where she plays a
characters that is more vulnerable than she at first seems to be, but she is
not that convincing as a queen that could make a hero fall for her.
If nothing else 'Kingdom of Heaven' is entertainment done in a better way
than we usually see, especially with 'Alexander' as the latest comparison.
It has the same, maybe even bigger, entertainment level as 'Troy' but it is
a film that wants to be taken more seriously and that can only be admired.