Kingdom of Heaven

[Guest TheDon]

I went to go see it on Friday Night. The story and the acting was above average. Good performances by Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson and Ed Norton were up there for this movie as Orlando Bloom wasn't that bad as well. I am suprised that there hasn't been a thread on this movie yet. I give the movie a strong 8 out of 10. It could have been cut down a little as in terms of editing.

[Guest Vitamin X]

Ed Norton's in this?

 

I'm sold. Although from what I heard, Crash looks really good as well. Yay I thought I ran out of movies to see when I watched Kung Fu Hustle last week.

[Guest TheDon]

Yeah I just realized on imdb.com that Ed Norton plays the King in the movie who is a leper and wears all white and a mask.

[2GOLD 0]

Is either side protrayed as good guys?

Cause if the Crusaders are made out to be good guys, I'll be avoiding it. I can't feel for a group that when they first took the city decided to kill every Jewish and Muslim they could find.

[Vyce 0]

Orlando Bloom is just too goddamn pretty for me to legitimately buy as an action-hero type. He's just too damn soft and pretty.

 

That said, I'm totally going to be seeing this sometime next week.

[Vern Gagne 0]

Is either side protrayed as good guys?

Cause if the Crusaders are made out to be good guys, I'll be avoiding it. I can't feel for a group that when they first took the city decided to kill every Jewish and Muslim they could find.

They Muslim's are the peaceful we're only fighting because we're being attacked people in the movie. When in fact they where just has bad as any Christian Crusaders.

[Guest The Iron Yuppie]

The crusaders (via Orlando Bloom's character, Baylean) would be considered the protagonists, but there are elements within both the crusaders and the Muslim groups that would be considered the "good guys" - respect/tolerance for all people regardless of religious belief, maintaining peace, avoiding causing harm to the villagers. It is even acknowledged (in passing) that the crusaders did kill every Muslim in Jereusalem. At the same time, there are elements on both sides that want war, and extermination of the Muslims/Christians. In that regard, while the hero of the piece is a crusader, the few Muslim characters that are shown in any depth aren't all evil bastards clamoring to kill every Christian they find.

[2GOLD 0]

Is either side protrayed as good guys?

Cause if the Crusaders are made out to be good guys, I'll be avoiding it. I can't feel for a group that when they first took the city decided to kill every Jewish and Muslim they could find.

They Muslim's are the peaceful we're only fighting because we're being attacked people in the movie. When in fact they where just has bad as any Christian Crusaders.

 

Yeah, the Muslims were some evil bastards. In a "well ok you can live and we'll let you go...if someone pays a ransom, otherwise slavery for you" kind of way.

 

I might go see it when it gets to the 2.50 theater. I'm interested and the cast is good but I feels alot like TROY. Either I'm in the mood for it or not. The positive it has is it is the only movie playing now that I've seen "Kung Fu Hustle" and I mentally sobered up about XXX 2.

[Vern Gagne 0]

I guess I don't see much of a difference.

[Guest Vitamin X]

It was okay. No better than Troy, but at least a lot better than Alexander, if that's any indication. The key to the movie is that the focus is meant to be on Baylean's personal journey, not on the Crusades and the war itself, but at times it feels like it doesn't have a point to anything that's going on. There's a lot of nice symbolism and nice little touches, but this was the kind of movie that makes 2 hours feels like 3 or more, so it did get very, very boring at times. Don't go in expecting a lot of action, for it takes a backseat to a rather dull story which doesn't make you feel any different at the end then when you came in the theatre. Very nice cinematography though, very good costuming recreating the times and places very well, but it's obvious Ridley Scott was trying to recreate what he did with Gladiator here and miserably failed. He brought none of the same kind of tension present in Gladiator, nor made you really care for Baylean's journey as much as Maximus'.

 

I'd give it like a B-.

[cabbageboy 0]

I saw the film today and no it really isn't as good as Gladiator if you want to compare it. The main problem is that Balian's motivation isn't as clear or interesting as Maximus. Max basically had his family killled and wanted to fuck up the Romans, the Emperor, etc. Balian has this vague motivation to repent his sins and his dead wife's by going to Jerusalem and all that, it is difficult to put into a short summary when explaining to someone who might want to see it.

 

Here's some spoilers:

 

The movie starts off fine with Neeson saying he's his dad and all that, but then man once Liam dies the movie dies with him for the next 30 mins or so. The whole section where Balian arrives in Jerusalem really got dull.

 

Also, the film is never sure exactly what point it is trying to make. It almost needed someone of De Mille's bravado to just take a side and say "These guys are the good guys, these guys are the heels, someone is going to win here." Instead we get basically a few rogue knights messing with the Muslims until they decide to attack. The main problem is that who is the average filmgoer more likely to identify with, the Templar Knights or the Muslims?

 

Orlando Bloom also does a lot of really stupid shit in the movie I thought. First, he refuses the leper king's request that he have Guy and the other rogue knights whacked, thus paving the way for him to marry the princess, take charge of the army, and keep the city out of war with Saladin and the Muslims. This essentially causes Guy to take command of the throne later and start a holy war with Saladin, thus leading to the city being sieged. Dumbass.

 

Second, near the end and after countless bloodshed Balian basically just gives up the city (without consulting anyone, mind you) to Saladin after fighting constantly...hell he could have just negotiated that shit to begin with and everyone could have left in defeat.

 

Oh, performance wise I dunno if this was the big breakout debut Bloom needed. My mom thought he was a sissy and not nearly macho enough for such a role. Neeson was great in what little of the film he was in, Irons solid, but it was Edward Norton as the leper king (with a bizarre face mask!) that really steals this thing.