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Dan Owen reviews
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment As premiered on
danowen.blogspot.com
- Cert:
- Cat.no: 2953401034
- Running time: 145 minutes
- Year: 2005
- Pressing: 2005
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, DTS 5.1
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: 2*DVD 9
- Price: £24.99
- Extras:Pilgrims Guide Commentary, HBO First Look, Orlando Bloom Visit Reel,Trailers and TV Spots, Interactive Production Grid, 6 Featurettes
Director:
- Ridley Scott
2-disc Special Edition: 
4-disc Director’s Cut:
Producers:
- Ridley Scott
Screenplay:
- William Monahan
Music:
- Harry Gregson-Williams
Cast:
- Balian: Orlando Bloom
Godfrey: Liam Neeson
Tiberias: Jeremy Irons
King Baldwin: Edward Norton
Sibylla: Eva Green
Hospitaler: David Thewlis
Ridley Scott single-handedly resurrected the “swords ‘n sandals” epics, which dominated Hollywood’s Golden Age, withGladiator (2000).
So expectation was justly high for Scott’s return to the genre withKingdom Of Heaven, starring Orlando Bloom (Lord Of TheRings) as Balian, a 12th-Century French blacksmith who has recently lost hiswife and faith. That is until his estranged father Godfrey (Liam Neeson,in another mentor role) talks him into joining a band of knights on acrusade to the Holy Land.
Kingdom Of Heaven is an extremely well filmed movie that tries desperately tobe enthralling and meaningful, but ultimately fails because of a script thatdoesn’t excite and glosses over the atrocities of this period in history.
Ridley Scott remains a master craftsman of beautiful imagery, although hissensibilities are occasionally too glossy and render the film as pretty as acar commercial, but tellingly false. There are some great shots throughoutthe movie and some expertly staged battle sequences, but they’re all an oasisin the desert of a humdrum story.
The Crusades is an extremely interesting and bloodthirsty period in historywhere armies from Europe waged war on Jeruslam to recapture the Holy city fromthe Muslims, but Kingdom Of Heaven doesn’t really get the nub of the matter.William Monahan’s script is careful not to offend Muslims, so goes to greatlengths to make both sides sympathetic.
I can understand the politically correct reasoning behind this, and there arethankfully no clichéd Arab villains in the film as a result, but from astorytelling perspective, this stance robs the movie of a true antagonist forBalian. And, as the saying goes, a hero is only ever as good as the villain.
The film is also far too interested in Balian’s personal journey, which younever really feel particularly interested in – primarily because his wife’sdeath occurs off-screen, you never understand just how much his lost faithmeant to him, and his eventual rise as the protector of Jerusalem fromSaladin (the terrific Ghassan Massoud) just seems unlikely.
Orlando Bloom does his best with the material, but he’s simply too young andlacks the charisma to be wholly believable – a problem he also faced in Troy!
Balian is a young man who is taught how to correctly sword-fight by hisfather on the same day he quits his blacksmith job, only to be leading a hugearmy of experienced fighters against a Muslim horde a few months later? Ican suspend my disbelief when called to, but Balian just didn’t ring true forme. Bloom is more at home playing the youthful sidekick in films like PiratesOf The Caribbean, and should leave the Alpha Male roles until he’s inhis late-thirties.
Liam Neeson lends his usual charm to his role as father/mentor, but it’s acharacter he’s been playing in his sleep sinceStar Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menaceled to Batman Begins. Eva Green (The Dreamers, and soon to beCasino Royale‘s Bond Girl) is an undoubted beauty, but alsoinconsequential to the plot and shoe-horned in to provide a love-interest.
David Thewlis, and a host of other British thesps appear throughoutthe movie, to no ill-effect, but there’s no real standout performer in KingdomOf Heaven; success all rests on the visuals, it would seem.
Ah, the visuals. As I said, Scott is undeniably gifted at filming foreignlandscapes and making them look suitably exotic and beguiling, but there’snothing here that hasn’t been seen before. The battle sequences are quiteimpressive at times, but they evoke memories of Peter Jackson’sThe Return Of The Kingtoo strongly — both in execution and design.
The production is handsomely mounted, as befits a multi-million dollar summermovie, but no matter how sumptuous the scenery is it can’t erase the growingfeeling of boredom that creeps into the movie about an hour in.
On the plus side, Harry Gregson-Williams’ musical score is exceptionally goodand manages to elevate quite a few scenes with its rousing orchestral power.However, Kingdom Of Heaven is hamstrung by its lacklustre screenplay and lackof courage to show the rawness of the situation and shed some light on theCrusades beyond a few interesting scenes.
It’s a pretty movie without the courage to provoke a reaction from itsinherently controversial subject matter. Kingdom Of Heaven is an empty-heartedepic without any inventive streak, so relies on cinematography andCGI-assisted battle scenes to keep boredom at bay.
A generally good transfer in anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen, although thecolour palette is quite dark at times and difficult to see detail. The imageis crisp and defined, although there is some image noise occasionally.
There are DTS and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks to choose from, with both givingintense and involving experiences, particularly in the battle sequences.Surround sound effects are used well to ground you in the presented reality,such as the numerous ancient villages and town (dog barks, chatter, theclink of metal, etc.) All the dialogue is rich, and there is a healthy levelof bass that really assaults the senses during fight scenes. The DTS trackis undoubtedly better than DD5.1, being crisper and richer throughout.
The extras are as follows:
- In-Movie Text Feature: On the first disc this feature displays “information on the real people andtrue events depicted in the film”.
- Interactive Production Grid: On the second disc this feature has two options “How it Works” (whichexplains how to use this feature) and “Enter The Grid” (which allows you tointeractively watch scenes from the directing, crew or cast point-of-view).
The feature can look at scenes from before, during and after Kingdom OfHeaven was being filmed. A “Play All” function is available for those of youwho just want to sit back and watch.
- History Vs Hollywood: This is a 45-minute documentary covering the historical aspects of theCrusades compared to the movie.
- A & E Movie Real: Another documentary, this time with interviews of the cast/crew, about makingthe film historically accurate.
- Internet Featurettes: A small selection of featurettes on the movie’s production.
- Theatrical Trailer: To condense the movie experience into a manageable few minutes, just watchthe trailer!
Not a bad transfer in terms of visuals and audio, and the extra featuresare fairly engaging, but this isn’t deserving of its 2-Disc Special Edition tag.
A 4-disc 194-minute Director’s Cut edition will be released in September 2006(see Amazon link above).
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.