Just Seen: Kingdom Of Heaven

Gary D

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Notice: This film is a historical epic. This film is directed by Ridley Scott. But it is not Gladiator. Its not in the same league, it doesn't carry the emotional impact or resonance of the Roman Epic. Nor does it have screen dominating, career defining performance from its leading man. Right, now thats out the way we can talk about Kingdom Of Heaven in its own right. :smashin:

I pressed play on this disc and expected to be depressed beyond belief, this was a film with a "whiff" about it. A "whiff" that suggested this was a poor effort.

Orlando Bloom plays Balian a blacksmith come Noble who travels to the holy land to absolve both his and his dead wife's sins at the time of the Crusades. This is another of those films that wants to wrap a story around historical events - in this case the fall of Jerusalem to Saladin at the turn of the 13th Century.

The story gets a tad confused at times but for the most part it skips along at a nice pace. The visuals form a collection of beautfully framed vistas to show off whatever display your watching it on. The script is ok, without getting overly sentimental. The SFX are superb without being spectacular. Although post "Rings", any seige is going to look like a fight down the chippy. The DTS soundtrack is pretty good but i haven't had chance to listen at reference yet. But at neigbour friendly volumes it was great.

it has it flaws confused ploting, a couple of panto villians in prominant roles and Orlando is both good and bad.

Orlando looks good and i have to say this is his best performance to date. Now i know that doesn't say much but you never know the boy may be an actor one day :D i think he is too lightweight for the role overall. But at times he almost pulls it off - at one point there was some acting going on :eek: the supporting cast is fine with no one letting the side down althougth Brendan Gleeson's Reynald is very "boo hiss boo" :D

I have to say that i really quite enjoyed it, having been sorely disappointed by another wanna be epic earlier this year *cough* so this was a pleasant surprise. It will find its way into the collection when it hits the offers in three months. :D

an entertaining 7 out of 10


Gary
 
Is it a true story? :D
 
hello gary D,what was the epic you where disappointed with earlier this year?i watched ALEXANDRA last week,i didnt know greek people spoke with an irish accent.i laughed every time someone spoke,it really killed the hole film.
 
the klang said:
hello gary D,what was the epic you where disappointed with earlier this year?i watched ALEXANDRA last week,i didnt know greek people spoke with an irish accent.i laughed every time someone spoke,it really killed the hole film.



Klang :hiya:

Please dont get Gary started on Alexander. :rolleyes:

:D
 
sorry razor,consider the matter closed.


but when iv conquered persia im off for a guiness(to be said in a terry wogon voice)
 
the klang said:
sorry razor,consider the matter closed.


but when iv conquered persia im off for a guiness(to be said in a terry wogon voice)

Stop it Klang!! you'll open the wounds again. i'm trying to forget about it - i need to find a dark room for a lie down..... :D:D:D:D

gary
 
The film was OK, not bad but not great either. i think i posted my opinion back when i saw it at the cinema, i just didn't feel any emotional involvement with any of the characters or either of the sides.

Maybe it tried too hard to show the Muslims in a good light, thus creating a war in which you don't really care who wins. I would've rather seen the classic 'good guys Vs Bad guys' plot instead of worrying about historical accuracy and who gets offended, such as Braveheart, I had no doubt that I wanted the Scots to win even though i'm English. :)

The direction and Cinematography was fantastic, fight scenes great again and acting all round was good, but it just didn't 'click' with me.

I'd give it a 6/10, a lot depends on your expectations. I went to see it opening night before any bad reviews or negative comments on here were posted so i had high expecations. Where as you were thinking the film 'had a whiff about it' before you'd put the DVD in so you were pleasantly surprised that it wasnt that bad.

Cheers Rob
 
Gary D or anyone else - who's shipping the DVD this early?

Been looking forward to this for a while.

Thanks.
 
Corkonian said:
Gary D or anyone else - who's shipping the DVD this early?

Been looking forward to this for a while.

Thanks.

i dont know mate sorry - i work in the trade so i get a few things early. but i dont know whose shipping. sorry.


Gary
 
No Problem - not too long to wait for official release anyway :thumbsup:
 
robyoung said:
Maybe it tried too hard to show the Muslims in a good light, thus creating a war in which you don't really care who wins. I would've rather seen the classic 'good guys Vs Bad guys' plot instead of worrying about historical accuracy and who gets offended, such as Braveheart, I had no doubt that I wanted the Scots to win even though i'm English. :)

personall rob i was with the muslims :smashin: crusaders being an invading force and all that, but a couple of the crusader characters (the panto villans mentioned above) had me running to the mosque to sign up :D


Gary
 
We finally got around to watching this this evening. Overall it was better than I was expecting (from all the bad press). Orlando Bloom was terrbile though, same pained expression the whole way through and the film looked like it had been hacked to pieces with huge chunks of story/character left out (eg. SPOILER it was a tad unbelieveable that Orlando Blloms character when from a blacksmith to leading the whole city of Jerusalem against the Muslims without displaying any particular battle/leadership skills up to then SPOILER).

Hopefully there will be a director's cut with a lot more in it, which I would look forward to. The special effects and battle scenes were excellent.

(Did anyone else get the R3 of this. Bloody impossible to get the digipak out of the slipcover :mad: )
 
I guess his leadership skills is in his blood, like his father he was born to lead.
 
There is supposed to be an extended Directors Cut next year that by all accounts is a much better film.
Paul
 
I have been reading up on this movie.
There was over an hour removed to get this down to what Ridley Scott considered a theatrical running time, note he didnt add a commentary to the recent release and thats because there is going to be an extended directors cut released with his commentary on board, it does actually make sense that a lot was removed as the story seems to be missing key emotive parts of the plot, no doubt when the directors cut is released they can either try and squeeze the movie onto 1 dual layer disc with commentaries and ditch the dts soundtrack or release it on 2 discs and split the movie up and keep the dts ( i hope for the latter )
 

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