KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
**1/2 out of *****

Genres
Action
Drama

2005
Directed by
Ridley Scott
Written by
William Monahan
Cast
Orlando Bloom    ....     Balian
Liam Neeson    ....     Godfrey
David Thewlis    ....     Hospitaler
Bronson Webb    ....     Apprentice
Marton Csokas    ....     Guy de Lusignan
Alexander Siddig    ....     Nasir
Velibor Topic    ....     Almaric
Eva Green    ....     Sibylla
Brendan Gleeson    ....     Reynald
Jeremy Irons    ....     Tiberias
Edward Norton    ....     King Baldwin
Ghassan Massoud    ....     Saladin
Khaled El Nabaoui    ....     Mullah (as Khaled Nabawy)
Karim Salah    ....     Saracen Messenger (as Karim Saleh)
Iain Glen    ....     Richard Coeur de Lion

When I first saw the theatrical poster for Kingdom of Heaven plastered everywhere with Orlando Bloom's visage, I could not believe he was the lead in a Ridley Scott epic considering he is as wooden an actor as Keanu Reeves. I mean would it hurt this guy to emote once in a while? Never-the-less I saw the film, because after all it was a Ridley Scott picture and the supporting cast is enough to make me want to cry tears of joy, ok maybe not that extreme…but they are damn fine.

Kingdom of Heaven takes place in the time of the Holy Crusades and tells the story of Balian, (Orlando Bloom) a village blacksmith whose wife had committed suicide and was therefore damned to hell. Having lost his faith Balian makes the acquaintance of Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson), who turns out is to be his father and a noble crusader. He offers his son a place at his side as they make another campaign to Jerusalem. Balian refuses, but after an incident that leaves a priest dead, Balian decides to join his father and his men, in the hopes that his sins and those of his dead wife can be forgiven in the Holy land.

Jerusalem is in a time of peace, between the second and the third Crusades, the Christian King Baldwin IV (Edward Norton) tries to maintain the peace between the Christian armies and those of Saladin's (Ghassan Massoud) Muslim forces. However the truce is hard to maintain when forces who don't share the King's views on peace continue to cause strife. During this time Balian fulfils his destiny and becomes a Knight, eventually falls in love again and becomes a leader of men remembering his oath passed onto his by his father "to protect the helpless, safeguard the peace, and work toward harmony between religions and cultures, so that a kingdom of heaven can flourish on earth".

This film is beautiful to look at, it contains many of the hallmarks that epic films carry, expansive locations, intricate and overwhelming sets, a stunning array of costumes and props that add to the film's tone and most importantly to accurately represent the time period so as to draw the viewer into the world portrayed on screen and to top it off a thunderous and completing score, the story itself is also interesting. So how could this film not be one the best films of all time? I can only blame that on three elements; parts of the script (primarily character elements), the casting of Bloom, and the editor's knife.

Let's start with Bloom's portrayal of the blacksmith-turned-Knight. Casting is imperative to the film, sometimes miscast parts can lead to less than stellar scenes and in some cases an entire film can fall under. Bloom, in my opinion has been miscast in this role. His youthfulness and inexperience as a leading man is the thorn in this film's side (that and the fact that he hardly stands up when acting alongside Neeson and the other supporting cast members such as David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson and Jeremy Irons). I found my disbelief hard to sustain when a 20-something year old becomes Knight and no sooner than putting on his chain mail is defending the entire city of Jerusalem, leading the people to fight. I'm sorry but Bloom does not attract that level of loyalty or leadership respectability. I just didn't buy it. In history Balian was not as young as he was in the film when he was asked to defend the city, he was a world weary Knight with experience and knowledge behind him and this did not seem the case with Bloom. I can understand his casting from a studio perspective, wanting someone young and hot to bring in the punters, but realistically I think cinema goers would still rather have a believable character that they can relate to and a good solid story (I certainly do). Liam Neeson himself would have made for a decent Balian and someone much older to play Godfrey, but we're stuck with Bloom and Neeson having to play second fiddle with a character that disappears just as soon as we get to know him (Neeson was criminally underused in this film!).

The film's editing is also to fault here, Balian's transition from blacksmith to Knight is too quick and seems to jump unbelievably, and this seems to be a result of the film having been edited down. Scott's original runtime ran well over an hour longer than this theatrical cut, leaving many character development moments on the cutting room floor that would have added to the development of Balian from blacksmith to Knight.

Additionally I felt that Balian's motivations for going to Jerusalem and becoming a Knight were forgotten by his character. This is, in my opinion one very key weakness in the script. As soon as he makes it to Jerusalem he almost entirely forgets about his deceased wife and falls in love with Queen Sybilla (Eva Green). These are the three major problems that I had with this film and would really like to see a director's cut that would hopefully make for a much better film. These issues aside, there are some levels of enjoyment that I got from the film, having a soft spot for epics I was overwhelmed and excited by the tremendous battle scenes that take place in this film. Scott is still a great action director and can pull of some amazing shots.

The film's supporting cast are also amazing and goes to show what age and experience can add to characters, primarily in Neeson's portrayal of Godfrey and also in the character of Tiberius (Jeremy Irons). The villains Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas) and Reynald (Brendan Gleeson) on the other hand were stereotypically bad natured and one-dimensional and had little redeeming qualities (something I hope will be rectified in the director's cut).

I felt that portrayal of the Muslims as respectable fighters with honour and dignity was an interesting choice considering the world's current climate. This was countered by having the Christians appear as barbarians and murderers (not the fighters of Balian's defence, but those from the First and Second Crusade), this proved controversial for its negative depiction of Christianity.

It is not a bad film, but it is not a great one either. Scott has made a serviceable epic that will probably be forgotten in the years to come. I hope his director's cut will be released soon and that they rectify a lot of the problems with this film. Bloom on the other hand is something we'll have to live with no matter what version of the film is presented.

Finger_of_DOOM's reviews also appear at DVD Compare, where they contain details of the DVD release. To read the expanded review click here.

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