Movie Review
by Eric Jeter
| *** (out of 5 stars) STARRING Orlando Bloom as BALIAN Liam Neeson as GODFREY Jeremy Irons as TIBERIUS Eva Green as SIBYLLA Ghassan Massoud as SALADIN Brendan Gleeson as REYNALD David Thewlis as HOSPITALER Mron Csokas as GUY DE LUSIGNAN Rated R Opens May 6, 2005 Studio: 20th Century Fox Directed by: Ridley Scott Back to Movie Review Home Read more of Eric's reviews at www.permierereviews.com. |
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Kingdom of Heaven: Glory and Disappointment
Ridley Scott’s benchmark presentation, Gladiator, rediscovered the long-dormant brilliance of the sword-and-sandal epic. Since that time, other hopefuls, shimmering with star-studded casts, big directors, and even bigger budgets, have made their triumphal entry through the box office gates. But the results have been mixed, ranging from the hardiness of Wolfgang Peterson’s Troy to the wholesale trash of Oliver Stone’s Alexander. Ridley Scott again takes up the mantle of sacred history, presenting us with another towering period piece, Kingdom of Heaven. With it, however, we encounter a movie that has all the expected magnificence but rations itself in too many places to achieve the grandeur it seeks.
At a time when religion is once again finding a mainstream audience, a film about one of its most controversial periods is a timely maneuver. Kingdom of Heaven draws upon the infamous Crusades, giving us a glimpse of an age that had long ago abandoned Jesus’ “love thy enemy” maxim and replaced it with a glistening blade stained with Muslim blood. Through the film we peer into the realities of a truly unfortunate era, where truth and superstition were practically indistinguishable, and humankind’s age-old desire to conquer was now dressed in papal robes and turbans.
With such religious turmoil as a backdrop, Kingdom of Heaven carves out a semi-fictitious tale. It begins with a real-life character known as Balian (Orlando Bloom), a guilt-stricken peasant who, at the behest of his father (played by Liam Nesson), must choose between a life of simple obscurity and one that might forever change the course of the Crusades. His journey takes him to the heart of the earth, Jerusalem, where he finds that Muslims are not his only foe.
As with Gladiator and its vivid Roman settings, Scott’s vision of the medieval world is a marvel of detail and accuracy. The sets and costumes are lavish and spectacular, but never artificial-looking or overdone. The awe of Jerusalem is illuminated in some truly mesmerizing shots, and its guardians - sterling knights mounted on magnificently clad stallions - ignite the film with visual energy. Most impressive of all are the film’s battle spectacles - gigantic seigeworks that stoutly point heavenward and great army hordes that seem to number in the hundreds of thousands. Sweeping angles, eclipsing in effectiveness even those used by Wolfgang Peterson in Troy, punctuate each massive engagement. It is simply some of the best cinematography you’ll ever see - all of it so natural looking (outdoing even The Return of the King in terms of realism) you may wonder how it was pulled off.
When fully committed, the film’s action is frenzied and absorbing, underscoring savagery but not without laudable instances of finesse. Although it stands as one of the movie’s best assets, it is also an Achilles heel. Much of the combat is presented in brief spurts; in fact so brief that, except for the finale, there’s little sense of intensity. Worse yet, some anticipated blockbuster battles are often substituted with merely a shot of dead bodies or a commander with a bloody beard. Such truncated and anti-climactic crests occur with such frequency that one gets the feeling that somewhere in Ridley Scott’s office there exists a really good director’s cut of the movie.
There are also some glaring problems with the development of the film’s story. Balian’s quest for forgiveness and supposed high ethics are confusing to follow given certain events. Similarly, the tale’s most intriguing circumstances have conclusions that fizzle miserably. There are even scenes that have absolutely no value or connection to anything else in the movie at all.
Thankfully, the quality of the acting softens the damage. Bloom seems to accomplish everything that is demanded of his character: a rugged appearance, passion, and occasional ferocity. The most notable performances are turned in by freshman French actress Eva Green (The Dreamers), who plays the adventurous Sibylla, and Ed Norton (Red Dragon), who plays her leprous brother, King Baldwin. Brenden Gleeson offers up a particularly detestable character in the warmongering Reynald, but unfortunately his development is too shallow to garner excitement.
Kingdom of Heaven is every bit the visual paradise its title suggests. But its outward glory is sacked by a somewhat disappointing lack of breadth. Thus, like The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, it is doomed to land by the wayside, never quite fulfilling its epic potential.
