KINGDOM OF HEAVEN [DVD]

"There can be no victory except through God"Kingdom of Heaven is directed by Ridley Scott and written by William Monahan. It stars Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Marton Csokas, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson, Alexander Siddig, David Thewlis, Ghassan Massoud and Edward Norton. Cinematography is by John Mathieson and music scored by Harry Gregson-Williams.Director's Cut, two words that has these days come to mean a marketing ploy to get the home movie fan to part with more cash. Except maybe when they call it something else, such as Unrated Edition or Extended Edition, the Director's Cut has rarely been more than the original theatrical version with some added bits sewed back in. Case in point Ridley Scott's own Gladiator. But Scott is a big advocate of the home formats available to us, and what he says in his introduction on these releases are always telling. 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. Balian (Bloom) is a French village blacksmith who after finally meeting his father Godfrey (Neeson), sets him on a course to aid the city of Jerusalem in its defence against the Muslim leader Saladin (Massoud). Saladin is battling to reclaim the city from the Christians. 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. Benefiting the most are Eva Green as Sibylla, and Bloom himself as Balian. The former now gets substance on why she transforms from a measured princess to a borderline head-case, and the latter gets a back story which helps us understand why he does what he does. Both actors performances are seen in better light as their characters become more defined. 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. Scott had long wanted to do a film about The Crusades, to make it an historical epic adventure reflecting the period, and he has achieved that without head banging messages. In fact the culmination of the films major battle comes by way of tolerance, compassion and mutual respect, not by over the top histrionics or side picking. It's a crucial point to note that the makers have not demonized the Arab leaders, both Saladin and Nasir (Siddig) are portrayed as intelligent and cultured men of standing. Their drive and determination coming off as respectful as Balian's defence of Jerusalem is. They also provide the film with two of its best acting performances. 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. Filled out with astonishing visuals and no overuse of CGI, it's arguably Scott's best production: it's certainly his most ambitious. Filmed in Spain and Morocco, the makers easily whisk us back centuries to the France and Jerusalem of the time, the ability to plant us firmly in the time frame is not to be understated. Mathieson (Gladiator) is a big part of that, his colour lensing for France (metallic cold blues) and Jerusalem (dusky yellow and brown hues) is a visual treat and integral to the feel of the story. While Gregson-Williams' score rarely gets a mention, but it's very at one with Scott's vision, a delightful mix of ethnic strains, mystical flair and medieval emphasis. Scott also ups the ante for visceral battles, the horrors of war never more vivid as they are here. Supremely constructed, the siege of Jersualem is one of the finest in cinema, the first sight of fireballs igniting the night sky bringing the hairs on the back of the neck standing to attention. It's just one of many great moments that form part of Scott's breath taking epic.Badly treated on cinema release by the studio, who even marketed that cut badly, Kingdom of Heaven: Director's Cut is these days worthy of a revisit and deeper inspection. For rich rewards await the genre faithful. 9.5/10

Excellent film Taken from history would recommend.

In this historical fantasy Director Ridley Scott lost sight of the two essential principles of producing for either stage of screen.The first principle is:-Warn the audience you will show, or tell them something.Then tell or show them.Finally tell them you have shown or told them something.This principle, clumsy as it may at first seem, is necessary because is it difficult for even the most intelligent audience to absorb a plethora of characters in a complex plot within the short span of the average movie or play. The difficulty is exacerbated when, as in 'The Kingdom of Heaven' historical facts are distorted beyond recognition, and when the very many characters' names are mumbled only once.Shakespeare understood this.The second principle is simple:- Bums on Seats = Profit. In other words, inform as well as entertain so as to attract an audience.Shakespeare understood this too.Ridley Scott has yet to reach this level. His vision as a director is breathtaking for he is a master of scene, colour and movement. Indeed he leads the profession in this respect. In every other aspect this film is weak. Historically it is nonsense, and permeated by silly 'politically correct' modern attitudes. Medieval warfare was not quixotic, but merciless and violent, bastards did not inherit titles, and Christians did not quote from the Koran unless they fancied being barbecued by other Christians.Is this film worth seeing?. Well, yes, if you buy it on DVD so as to be able to view the three hour epic again and again. Only so could you completely grasp the entire story. Watching it once only would not give value for money.

This was a complex film giving a great idea of how people lived at that time, it held our interest from start to finish, my only problem was with Orlando Bloom, he is very attractive and played his part well, its just that he doesnt quite show enough emotion for us to believe in him. His face tends to be rather the same whatever is going on. Having said that , this is the second time we have watched, and really enjoyed this film.