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Originally Posted by two40
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
In the following act the film must disappointingly move away from the more interesting pilgrim's journey and enter the stale world of religious politics and the struggles for power between nobles who wage war to advance their personal cause. The film grows in scale but loosing the personal tale of Balian to a clichéd hero's rise did not make it more interesting. It loses its grounding in the reality Scott setup early on and very quickly becomes just another film designed for instant feel good gratification for the masses. A template tale you've all seen many times.
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First off, fantastic review!!
And I'll admit upfront that this is my favorite (currently) film between Gladiator, Braveheart, Last Samurai, and Troy (we recently ranked our favorites).
I completely understand why you came to the above conclusion. THere definitely is a big turn in the plot when Balian arrives at Jerusalem. However, I don't see a disconnect here. As you said, Balian's knight oath (on his pilgrim journey) was based on swearing to defend the helpless. When Balian is with the King, you'll recall he tells him
[Show spoiler](in response to "were you once sure of your end?", that "I was to be buried 100 yards from where I was born...now I sit before a king". This seems to sum up your argument, but then the King reminds him of his duty to protect the helpless and that "all are welcome in Jerusalem". I never saw the King or Balian as involved in a religious political debate. They never defended any religious ideology, but only that of protecting the helpless. Sure, Balian may have worn Christian colors, but that wasn't his primary goal, or he would have joined the red-haired guy on command and killed helpless people.
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So in so many words, that is why I don't see a disconnect there - Balian's mission never changed , from his pilgrim journey when his Dad knighted him to his actions in Jerusalem. Just my 2 cents.
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You can just feel the climax of a large scale war building up even before the third act begins. The big speeches to rally the troops and the sacrifices everyone has to make for the greater good. The power plays by the evil nobles looking to capitalise on death and weakness. Yeah, you've seen this many times before and as much practice as Scott has, it fell really short this time. Part of the problem is in the direction of the film but I felt that most of it can be placed squarely on the shoulders of the lead.
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Surprisingly, this is one of the reasons I love KOH: the ratio of action-to-dialogue is much much less than Glaiator/Braveheart/etc. KOH doesn't lean on action/battle sequences as much as the other similar films do. Instead, it seemed to spend more time (and focus) on dialogue/character development. At least it seemed so from my standpoint?
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What the role of Balian required was a man. A strong charismatic leader who with mere presence inspires and whose booming voice can rally beaten men to rise and be counted as warriors. Instead, we have to watch a man boy with puppy eyes who easily elicits pity and has one expression to offer the camera, one of profound constipation. On the back of his Pirates of the Caribbean success, Bloom might have been a financially sound choice but in the long run his involvement delegates the film to the back of the shelf.
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Great points here -- my initial gut reaction was "BLoom sucks", but then I started to share your earlier view above: that we're talking about a lowly blacksmith here. If we were to use a Crowe or someone more "manly"
, then would they be able to be as "lowly" in the beginning? Crowe probably could. He's incredible. But I think you see my point: Balian's range from lowly at the beginning to bada$$ mofo at the end can't be too big to be unbelievable/unrealistic.
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To be fair, the dialogue is partly to blame. Speeches that are written to stand the hairs on the back of your neck instead make your butt clench in uncontrollable embarrassment. At the crucial moment, amid alien scenes of war when we most need to believe, a weak delivery pushes you further away from the world they're attempting to create. You suddenly feel deflated after you've invested 3 hours into this film and the pay off is a meek one. To walk away with that feeling is to walk away with the opinion that the film was very poor.
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I can 100% understand why you felt this way. Some of Bloom's speeches towards the end were dripping with cheese, but for whatever reason, they've grown on me. Perhaps its because the rest of the film resonates with me so much, from the King who I looove, to the scenery, score, etc. So perhaps I'm subconsciously overlooking bloom's dialogue at the end here (sweeping it under the rug)
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But it's not. Despite some of its short comings it is a wonderful experience. Scott truly creates a violent yet breathtakingly beautiful middle age that's dark and alive with the tedium of daily life from peasant to king. The cinematography will take your breath away at times and should be familiar to those that have seen Gladiator or the recent Robin Hood in which the pair of Scott and cinematographer John Mathieson weave their illusions. Should that partnership have extended to Rusell Crowe, as it did in Gladiator and the less successful Robin Hood, Kingdom of Heaven would have at the least had a chance at lasting greatness with a more convincing leading man.
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Absolutely agree! I recently watched Robin HOod and in the extras they said how they used most of the KOH armor in Robin HOod b/c the time periods were only about 70 years apart. For the cinematography, I also said how both films have that kind of "blu-ish hue" to them, where Scott tends to film these breathtaking outdoor scenes (particularly wooded areas) with a bluish tint to the lens, making it absolutely gorgeous!
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The support cast are a bit hit and miss but it has to be said that Edward Norton puts in a stellar performance as the leprosy ridden King Baldwin. Covered from head to toe in white with a silver mask for a face, he is easily more regal than any man on screen. A beautiful and strong man in his early years, King Baldwin has been slowly forced into seclusion but maintains a strong persona for his people who expect nothing less. The pain he has carried since the disease started to consume his flesh, and his world, are fully realised by Edward Norton in the way he carries himself, in his muffled calculated speech and in his piercing eyes - the only part of him you can make out behind the somber silver mask that hides his disfigured face.
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King Baldwin = my favorite character in all of these epics. SOmething about him, I don't know. YOu describe it perfectly. The chess board scene was perfection: "the whole world is in chess -- move anywhere other than where you started, and you can't be sure of your end" <-- quotes like this, so short and sweet, but so deep! the kind of dialogue I just don't hear in these kind of epic films. But the delivery definitely made it even more impactful!
Look forward to more of your reviews!!
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haha best example ever 
during the whole thing.
is it a good / great movie? yes. did it feel to me like a 5/5 classic that is looked upon and bowed to as an end all be all that other films strive to be? not for me it isn't.
Fine I'll call it a schmiesel schmun and dun.
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