Kingdom of Heaven

Plot synopsis:
In a remote village in France, Balian (Orlando Bloom), a blacksmith, is haunted by his wife's (Nathalie Cox) recent suicide. A group of Crusaders arrive at the small village and one of them approaches Balian, introducing himself as his father, Baron Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson). Godfrey, asks Balian to return with him to Jerusalem. Balian refuses and the Crusaders leave. Afterwards, the town priest (Michael Sheen), Balian's younger brother, reveals that he had ordered Balian's wife beheaded before burial (a customary practice in those times for people who committed suicide). During the encounter Balian kills him. Balian follows after his father in the hope of gaining forgiveness and redemption for him and his wife. After he catches up to his father, Godfrey instructs him in swordsmanship. Then soldiers led by Godfrey's nephew arrive to arrest Balian. Godfrey refuses to hand him over and during the subsequent fight most of Godfrey's men are killed and Godfrey himself is mortally wounded.In Messina, Godfrey knights Balian and orders him to serve the King of Jerusalem and protect the helpless then succumbs to his injuries. On Balian's journey to Jerusalem, his ship is run aground by a storm, leaving Balian and a horse as the survivors of the wreck. When Balian releases the horse from the wreckage it flees in panic. Tracking the horse into the desert, Balian is confronted by a Muslim cavalier and his servant. A fight over possession of the horse follows and Balian slays the horseman, but spares the servant, asking him to guide him to Jerusalem. Upon their arrival in Jerusalem, Balian gives the horse to the servant and releases him. The man then tells him his slain master was an important knight amongst the Saracens.After being accepted as the new Lord of Ibelin by Godfrey's retainers, Balian soon becomes acquainted with the main players in Jerusalem's political arena: the leper King Baldwin IV, Tiberias (Jeremy Irons), Marshall of Jerusalem, Princess Sibylla, King Baldwin IV's sister, and Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas), Sibylla's husband, who supports the anti-Muslim activities. Guy is determined to rule after Baldwin's death and seeks to provoke a war that will allow him to dispose of the Muslims and claim the Kingdom for the Christians.Guy and his co-conspirator Raynald of Châtillon (Brendan Gleeson) massacre a Muslim trade caravan with the aid of the Templars. Saladin, leader of the Muslim forces attacks Kerak, Raynald's castle, to bring him to account for his crime. Balian decides to protect the villagers as they attempt to enter the castle from Saladin's cavalry. Though outnumbered, Balian and his knights charge Saladin's cavalry, allowing the villagers time to flee to the castle; Balian's knights are soon defeated resulting in their capture. In the enemy camp, Balian encounters the 'servant' he freed, Imad ad-Din, learning he is actually Saladin's Chancellor, who then releases Balian to enter Kerak. Saladin arrives with his army to besiege Kerak and King Baldwin IV approaches with his. The two rulers successfully negotiate a Muslim retreat and Baldwin swears that he will punish Raynald for his crimes. The exertion of these events cause Baldwin to collapse, weakened beyond recovery.Baldwin asks Balian to marry Sybilla (Eva Green), knowing that the pair have affection for each other, but Balian refuses to be associated with the necessary murder of Guy. After Baldwin dies, Sibylla's six year old son Baldwin V becomes King of Jerusalem. It quickly becomes apparent that he is also infected with leprosy. Grief-stricken and unwilling to condemn her son to a life behind a mask, Sibylla gives him poison. Sibylla succeeds her son and names Guy King of Jerusalem. Guy releases Raynald asking him to give him a war, which Raynald does by murdering Saladin's sister. When Saladin sends an emissary to demand the return of his sister's body, the heads of those responsible, and the surrender of Jerusalem, Guy answers by decapitating the emissary and sending his head back to Damascus.In council war is agreed upon "because God wills it" and against sound advice they march into the desert away from adequate water supplies to fight Saladin, leaving Jerusalem unguarded except for Balian, his knights, and the townspeople. Saladin's army attacks the Crusader army near to the city of Hattin, and at the Battle of Hattin, the Crusader army is annihilated. Guy and Raynald are captured; Saladin executes Raynald, and then marches on Jerusalem, sparing Guy out of tradition but stating that he is not worthy of this. Balian prepares the defences, challenging the Patriarch's advice to flee, and then knights a number of men-at-arms because "making a man a knight makes him a better fighter." Knowing they cannot defeat the Saracens, they hope hold their enemies off long enough for the Saracens to offer terms; after three days and having proven their resolve, Saladin offers terms: Balian surrenders Jerusalem when Saladin offers all the inhabitants safe passage to Christian lands. Balian points out that when the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem a hundred years previously, they massacred the Muslim inhabitants, but Saladin assures him that he is "not those men". Saladin releases Guy back to Jerusalem where Balian encounters him in a fight. Balian tells him "When you rise again, if you rise again, rise a knight." As he returns to the city, Balian must step around the bodies of the dead. After he tells the inhabitants Saladin's terms, he says "if this is the kingdom of heaven, let god do w/ it what he will". He then encounters Sybilla & tells her that her brother's kingdom was in his head & heart, & that can never be lost. When she says she is also queen of several other lands, he tells her to stop being a queen & he will come to her.In the marching column of citizens, he finds Sibylla who has renounced her claim as Queen of Jerusalem and other cities. Saladin's forces destroy many of the Christian books and replace the cross on the top of the church with a crescent. Privately, Saladin is shown refusing to step on the stones carved with crucifixes, and later picks up a cross and gently puts it back on the table. Imad returns the horse to Balian, saying it was not a good horse anyway & asks him if God didn't love him, how could he have accomplished so much. They wish each other peace in the other's language.Balian returns to his village in France and a column of English knights ride through looking for Balian, defender of Jerusalem. Balian replies that he is the blacksmith, and the man identifies himself as King Richard I of England, and they are commencing a new Crusade to retake Jerusalem from Saladin. Balian responds that he is still the blacksmith and Richard rides off. Balian is joined by Sybilla, and passing by the grave of Balian's wife, they ride towards a new life together.An epilogue states that "nearly a thousand years later, peace in the Kingdom of Heaven remains elusive."

Tags: murder, anti war, violence, horror, action, romantic, historical

Review:
just wonderful stuff up to that point.Liam Neeson, as usual, is just SO GOOD, you wish he had more screen time.Orlando Bloom, actually surprisingly, was able to carry the movie as a lead.
I just wish there was a better script to handle the compelling personal journey for Orlando Bloom (from widower, murderer seeking redemption, lost bastard son) that was PROMISED at the beginning.It seems that as soon as he brings water to his father's old land, he's just about done his journey, and it turns into a simple historical battle movie.
I saw it in the theater but the reason it's so great is because of the 4-Disc Director's Cut, which is a must own for any KOH fan.Story: A well written script, KOH is about a blacksmith whose wife has committed suicide and he seeks out to redeem her in the city of Jerusalem, but ends up defending the people in the great battle against the Muslims.Cast: The cast for this film was outstanding.
Recognizing that this movie is a mix of historical fact and dramatized fiction, let me focus on one rather unusual aspect of the hero Balian (Orlando Bloom), a blacksmith inheriting knighthood and an estate from a father appearing out of the blues.
Ridley Scott has delivered a worthy follow up to his Oscar winner, which is also based on medieval times, with a central heroic character, and supporting casts of characters based on history.The sets are as spectacular, instead of just Rome and the Collesuem, we have the Middle East and Jerusalem.
The soundtrack is a mixture of sounds with middle eastern influences, but somehow pales in comparison with Gladiator and lacks a central theme.Much is said about how the film portrays religion, given the sensitive subject of the Crusades, but I feel that Ridley has achieved a wonderful balance between how Christianity and Islam are portrayed.
The film can be broadly categorized into 3 acts - the first in which Balian searches for his identity and new life in Jerusalem, the second in which the focus is on religion and politics of the time, and the last, the spectacular siege and war.Bloom puts up a commendable performance, so to his detractors out there, you're in for a big surprise.
Edward Norton had the difficult task of acting through a mask as leper King Baldwin, and I applaud Ridley's decision of casting real Muslim actors to learn from them.Fans of Eva Green might be disappointed that the relationship between Balian and Queen Sibylla was played down to focus on the battles, but I feel it's a fair trade off.Firstly, some of you might not like the quick-cut-MTV style editing in Gladiator's fight scenes, especially the close ups.
This is one medieval war movie whose battles will stick in your mind for some time.The audience were the only disappointing experience for me - they were laughing at a dialogue near the end, where a "knight" asked who Balian was, and he answered "I'm the blacksmith", in which the "knight" answered "I'm the King".
Perhaps the most disturbing things is for instance the way that Orlando Bloom goes from clueless blacksmith to full-fledged sword-wielding knight in 15 minutes movie-time.And the actors?
Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut is one of the rare cases that deserves the label, it is the cut Scott wanted and with 45 minutes extra in the film, it's now a fully formed epic and without doubt a better film than the one the theatrical cut suggested.Nutshell plotting finds the story set during the Crusades of the 12th century.
It's a fictionalised account of Balian de Ibelin the man, but with the Crusades featuring so rarely in movies it's good to see one with attention to detail in relation to the events and time period.Now this version exists there is no reason to visit the theatrical cut, for although this has one or two missteps in the narrative, big holes have been plugged and characters importantly expanded.
Neeson and Norton, too, also get more screen time, and that can never be a bad thing.In this day and age the topicality of the film as regards Muslims and Christians is obviously hard to ignore, but Scott and Monahan are not in the market for political posturing.
Impressive considering the film is full of very good acting turns.It will come as no surprise to fans of Scott's work to find that Kingdom of Heaven is tremendous on production value.
He had done nobly in his sovereign's war And ridden into battle, no man more, As well in Christian as in heathen places, And ever honoured for his noble graces."Chaucer, "The Canterbury Tales"In Kingdom of Heaven, Orlando Bloom plays Balian, a former blacksmith turned knight, at the siege of Jerusalem in the late 12th century.
This film could have used a good study of Chaucer to show how to intersperse gravity with levity.In other words, Scott has forsaken the gritty toughness of Russell Crowe's Oscar performance in Gladiator for the saintliness of Bloom, which makes Kingdom of Heaven a parable of virtue rather than a hardscrabble tale of violence and intrigue.
The battle scenes are even better than the ones seen in Jackson's THE TWO TOWERS and RETURN OF THE KING and at no time did I believe I was watching an unconvincing CGI battle fest , just an army of thousands of extras walloping each other over the head like you'd see in the greatest Hollywood epics of yesteryear .
It must have been something of a gamble for Scott to cast pretty boy Bloom in the lead role since he's the sort of " movie star " who's only famous because of his good looks rather than any outstanding thespian ability but Orlando Bloom probably gives his greatest performance in this film .
The only thing that the director Can be criticised for is an over reliance of slow motion during the battle scenes but apart from that everything else on screen is Oscar worthy , though since Scott was under rewarded at award ceremonies you get the feeling that he was trying a little too hard to win an Oscar There's an old saying that " if a film is good then it's down to the director and if it's bad it's down to the screenwriter " and this is certainly true of KINGDOM OF HEAVEN .
The theatrical version is like a trailer for the directors cut, it shows most of the key bullet points yet it doesn't fill the holes nor does it do a good job at conveying the overarching morality of the characters and the plot.Kingdom of Heaven (DIRECTORS CUT) is without a doubt one of the most beautifully made and crafted films from the complex crusade era.
One thousand years after 'Gladiator', director Ridely Scott stages another historical epic; but whereas I quite liked his film about Rome, this one (set in Jerusalem) did not appeal.
Finally, the move looks great, but so heavy is its reliance on special effects, and in particular on computer-enhanced landscapes, that for much of the time it feels as if one is watching a cross-between 'The Lord of the Rings' and the desert scenes in 'Star Wars' (with Liam Neeson reprising his role from 'The Phantom Menace' to boot); although even 'Star Wars' came closer to offering us heroes with flaws than this film does.
the Islamic Jihad, was over nothing more important than Orlando Bloom's good looks.This complete lack of a point doesn't just make the movie mind- and butt-numbingly boring, it also makes it ironic.
The picture is set in Crusades time , the starring is a blacksmith named Balin (Orlando Bloom) who after dieing his wife and daughter is called by his father (Liam Neeson) to fight on Holy Land against the Saracens .
After that , he'll confront enemies , the Templar knights as Guy Lusignan (Marton Csokas) and Reynald (Brendan Gleeson) and the ruler Saracen : Saladin (Massoud).The movie is developed amongst the second and third Crusade is based on epic events and historical characters , thus appears : Saladin who created the dynasty Ayyubida and vanquished Crusades in battles of Alepo and Hattin and reconquered Jerusalem (1187) that previously had been won by Geoffrey Boullon in the first Crusade , also appears the King of Jerusalem , Baldwin IV , and the king Richard Lionheart (Iain Glen) who at the end of the film asks for help Balin in third Crusade and conquests Acre.In the motion picture there are historical deeds , overwhelming battles , gorgeous landscapes and spectacular scenarios .
¨Kingdom of heaven¨ is a good movie , being glamorously directed by Scott at his best and as stylish as ever , similarly his previous film ¨Someone to watch over me¨ and others as ¨Blade runner¨, ¨Black rain¨ , ¨Legend¨ in which his visual style is impressive .
This film lacks, as so many Ridley Scott movies do, a coherent narrative, but what is worse (and is certainly not helped by Orlando Blooms lack of charisma) is the lack of a convincing and interesting central character.
Surprisingly enough, even the supporting actors such as Brandon Gleeson, Jeremy Irons and Eva Green add little to the film, Edward Norton, wearing a mask all the time, is rather wasted, even though his character, the King of Jerusalem, who tries to balance the religions, could have been an interesting part (Although not mentioning the problematically simplified depiction of historic events and people.) Ultimattly a slight disappointment..
The intense battle scenes were shot well and were made with the signature Ridley Scott look with his genius use of light and dark.The whole relationship between the Hospitalers, Templars and the Jerusalem Knights was the greatest piece of fantasy-fiction to hit the big screen in many years.Orlando Bloom was miscast as the hero of the movie, he would have been better off being cast as Guy de Lusignan and Marton Csokas as Balian.
With those 45 minutes included, this film is a gripping epic with some great cinematography and some really good acting (well, Orlando Bloom is serviceable at best but there is great cast of supporting characters; most notably Edward Norton that delivers an impressive body and voice performance as the always face-covered Leper King).Second: Renounce any historical accuracy.
The story is Set in the 12th century, the film focuses on a young blacksmith (Orlando Bloom) who becomes a knight and helps defend Jerusalem against the Crusaders.
Other things: Balian was 47 during the battle of Jerusalem; he wasn't a blacksmith but a legitimate Frankish lord educated in art of war since he was young; Saladin wasn't a good uncle as depicted in a movie but a tough warlord who didn't hesitate to kill POW's to incite fear amongst his enemies...The movie is basically a fairy tale based on some random facts and it wouldn't be bad if it stayed that way.
I really had a great expectation with "Kingdom of Heaven": beginning with the name of Ridley Scott, one of the greatest directors of Hollywood, the awesome cast and last but not the least the very high budget available for the production.
"Kingdom of Heaven" with a better story and less special effects might be a great film; the way it is, it is only a reasonable and forgettable entertainment.
Bloom is shaping up to be a good, solid actor, and in Kingdom of Heaven he is being supported by a number of excellent actors, both long established (Irons and Neeson) and relatively underrepresented on the big screen (Thewlis and Siddig).Yet despite the brilliant acting, the moving soundtrack and the excellent effects and camera work, I was very disappointed with the film.
I've already mention Massoud, but I feel that I should also give kudos to Jeremy Irons, Eva Green, Liam Neeson, Marton Csokas and Alexander Siddig for their laudable efforts.Ridley Scott is a master movie maker and almost always excels in direction and cinematography.
Though I am sure some will disagree, as there are certainly some continuity and plot problems in this film (how does Blooms character become a master tactician while floating on a piece of wreckage en route to Jerusalem?, for example), I felt that this had all of the makings of a great film - a compelling subject, a great director, an excellent cast, and a good script.Unfortunately - and I say this with some trepidation because I really like the guy - Orlando Bloom just wasn't the right guy for this role.
Bored also by the stiff and unoriginal directing, the 3D modeled cities that look nowhere near realistic and the lack of original elements to disrupt the monotony.It had good elements, it's not a bad movie, but I'm just tired of always watching the same characters, doing the same mistakes, in the same hollow environments and I think that Ridley Scott can do way better than this..
And one pretty cool battle scene concerns the siege of Saladin's army on Christian Jerusalem, and it's one of those great set pieces with massive orbs of fire that plunge and land near---but not near enough---to the central characters.There is a particular magnitude that's expected in films of this kind, and Scott is known for his mastery of it.
Despite the film's flaws and tight compression (rent the full 3 or 4 hour uncut version that was just released) Ridley Scott did a good job.The real story is very multi-faceted as the Crusades were not simply between Christian and Muslim, but also about Christian vs.
Kingdom Of Heaven is a movie that will keep you entertained while you watch it, but i guess many people ( including me ), were expecting much more than entertainment when they walked in to see it.Ridley Scott reinvented the epic genre in 2000 when he made gladiator.
All the characters, apart from the character from Orlando Bloom, are given little screen time, and as a result, we didn't get to know these characters well, and there were almost no character development.The film makers didn't want to cause controversy and upset the Muslims or Christians, so they tried to balance the movie.
Also the movie had a good message, but as I said the delivery wasn't as good.So overall, i recommend watching Kingdom Of Heaven, it has excellent battle scenes, very good acting and a solid score.
The "good" knights of course, are pretty much Hollywood liberals, dealing with their usual inchoate longings.SPOILER: Not to deny that The Muslim leader Saladin was truly remarkable talented, man, but the end of the siege of Jerusalem shows Saladin giving free passage to all the defenders, certainly a magnanimous gesture.What Ridley Scott and the scriptwriters fail to divulge, is the historical fact that only those who could pay a ransom were set free.
Irons's character was once like him,but ,now that he's getting old,he realizes he betrayed the ideals of his youth.Scott's directing is paradoxically better in the intimate scenes than in the battle scenes (as Mankiewicz was in his outrageously underrated "Cleopatra" ).The leprous king not only adds to the atmosphere of mystery but also epitomizes the imminent fall of the Christians.For once,the female character is given a prominent part.(Eva Green: "the queen is a heroine,not a "potiche" )And the way the director lets us know that the young king is a leper too cannot be praised too highly.And last but not least,Saladin was not given the part of the villain .(which was reserved to Guy de Lusignan)In several respects, "kingdom of heaven" has a strong contemporary feel..
The theatrical cut of this film runs 45 minutes shorter, has a different color pallet, is missing a few subplots, certain characters just go away and you never know what happened to them, the "bad guy" is one of those, he's just out of the movie all of a sudden...in short, it felt chopped and unfinished...The Director's Cut is THE best work Ridley Scott has ever done...yes Blade Runner is considered his masterpiece but I disagree.The music, color, set design, dialog, action, momentum, EVERYTHING is perfected.
With the extra 45 minutes we get a completely told journey that actually stays with you after the film is over..due in part, to the outstanding score.Orlando Bloom is actually able to carry the film, plus the secondary characters are ALL wonderful actors who do an amazing job as well.Add to this the incredible 4 disc DVD set with an insane amount of special features like roundtable reads, interviews, behind the scenes, etc, including talk with Scott about how he really hates that the studio made him cut down the movie.It also has a musical intro like when a theater is filing in, an intermission, and the discs are perfectly cut so the scene fades slowly between Act 1 and 2...If you like anything epic or just like any of the actors don't bother renting, just buy the 4 disc DVD...the Bluray looks and sounds great but sadly there are no special features..
That said Kingdom of Heaven is in many ways a better movie then Gladiator and had it been made made by anyone else but Ridley Scott I would unconditionally say that it's a great movie..
:D Ridley Scott is a perfect director, and Orlando Bloom improved so much that his acting can move me (This is the first time I was moved by his performance.) Liam Neeson and Jeremy Irons are the best of the best without saying.
Back in 2005 however they've had a bit of a rough ride, what with misfires like Troy and Alexander so it falls to Ridley Scott, director of the classic Gladiator to return the genre to its former glory with Kingdom of Heaven: the story of a blacksmith being made into a knight and going to Jerusalem during the crusades in order to find redemption for his troubled soul.