May 07, 2005
Kingdom of Heaven
Orlando Bloom .... Balian
Liam Neeson .... Godfrey
David Thewlis .... Hospitaler
Eva Green .... Sibylla
Edward Norton .... King Baldwin
Jeremy Irons .... Tiberias
Marton Csokas .... Guy de Lusignan
Brendan Gleeson .... Reynald
Alexander Siddig .... Nasir
Ghassan Massoud .... Saladin
Very underwhelming movie.
I didn't read a whole lot of press or see a bunch of specials about this movie before seeing it so I had no real expectations.
Quite honestly, I was pretty Meh during the whole thing.
First, the pacing is slow. It takes a while for anything worthwhile to happen. Normally, I turn off my cell phone during movies, but about an hour into this movie, I turned it on and made sure the ringer was off because I needed to see the time. I kept looking at the time to figure out when the big climactic battle scene was going to happen. And even during the final battle scene, I kept checking the time to see when it was going to end.
Second, some of the actors are just wasted in their roles. Liam Neeson and Jeremy Irons are great actors but they have so little to do in this movie. Unknowns or less famous name actors could've just as easily fit into their spots. That's not to say that Neeson and Irons didn't act the hell out of those parts. Orlando Bloom was okay. I wasn't moved by his performance but he didn't totally suck and at least he had better chemistry with his leading lady in this movie than he did in Troy.
Finally, there are just all kinds of issues I have with character motivation that I can't go into without spoiling the movie. Don't even get me started on why French Knights sound like English Knights.
There are however, some great small fight scenes. To me, those were better than the bigger battle scenes. There are also some very beautiful location and scenery shots. Amazingly gorgeous vistas and sweeping wide shots.
Overall, I'd say go see it in the theatre to experience the battle scenes on the big screen but don't pay full price for it. Or, if you've got a decent home system, just wait for the DVD.
Posted by xinh at May 7, 2005 11:39 PMI think its a good movie but not great although i have to say that i great fun looking at all the hot people. David Thewlis owns. He actually looked better in this movie than Harry Potter (not that he didn't look or act good). Orlando Bloom was excellent in this movie, his previous movie, the pirates of the carrabien, was not as good as it could have been.
I didn't like the queen, she was the worst character in the whole movie.