Review: Kingdom of Heaven

I have to admit I enjoyed this one a whole lot, and I was not expecting to.

I heard a lot of mixed opinions, and was myself weary of sitting through yet another lukewarm "historical" epic monster of a movie with little substance to it beyond the 10,000 CGI rendered soldiers marching into battle.

I'm also not a big fan of Orlando Bloom, and I had serious doubts that he could carry the hefty 145 minute length of this film. He managed surprisingly well, however, though he was not the film's greatest strength.

That strength lied in the masterful direction of Ridley Scott, who is probably the main reason I even gave this movie a chance. The plot is patiently developed, and we are given a firm understanding of the careful relationship between Muslims and Christians in the holy city of Jerusalem, the machinations of Theocracy and the bricks that pave the path to war.

I was unable to pay as much attention as was needed in order to keep up with some of the finer plot points. This is not due to lack of interest, but due to the fact that my 19 month old son was either tugging on my arms or dancing a jig in front of the t.v. for some large stretches of time. If you don't pay attention, you do miss stuff.

Then there was the action.

The battle scenes, while not as frequent as some might hope, were striking in their realism and breathtaking in their scope. From the slaying of the priest by Bloom (which is maybe one of the greatest on-screen deaths ever) in the very beginning, to the seige of Jerusalem at the climax of the film, which puts The Return of the King to shame, few movies have ever done real violence better.

All this was compimented by a supporting cast that easily outshined the competant Bloom. Among them, Ghassan Massoud as Saladin, the commander of the Muslim armies was the clear standout. Piercing like a hawk, he oozed charisma and made every scene not just interesting, but riveting. One of my main beefs with this movie his lack of developement as a character. The film could've withstood 10 minutes less of Bloom and 10 more minutes of him.

Jeremy Irons deserves praise as well for his wise and weary commander Tiberias, one of the few men of reason in Jerusalem. Even Hamish from Braveheart was good, but just once I'd like to watch an historical war epic that doesn't have him in it. Eva Green (Sibylla) from The Dreamers was decent, although we did not get to see a close up of her vagina this time. Liam Neeson was just rehashing Quai-gong or whatever his name was in Star Wars.

In conclusion, this one is definitely worth watching, though I would not say it's vital. It does slow down in the middle, but if the plot doesn't hold your interest, at least stick around for the awesome battle at the end.

Rating: 7 out of 10