Enjoyable though it is, there is nothing in Kingdom of Heaven that hasn't been done equally well, if not better, in Braveheart and Scott's own Gladiator. Granted, the whole production is handsomely staged and the battle scenes are impressive but on those scores it simply cannot top Peter Jackson's Lord Of The Rings trilogy. And Scott's film doesn't just whiff of familiarity, it positively reeks of it.
Consider the plot: ordinary but principled man loses wife, joins a noble cause, is embroiled in a snowy forest ambush, witnesses a mentor die in a veiled chamber, becomes a peerless warrior and tactician in no time, enjoys a dalliance with a beautiful royal, thus upsetting her war-loving husband and even encounters a leper. Stop me if you've heard any of these before...
What the movie needs is a believable hero. What it has is Orlando Bloom, who gives it his best but fails to convince as a great leader of men. His rallying call of "Come on!" hardly commands the attention like Mel Gibson's "Freedom!" speech or Russell Crowe thunderously demanding "Are you not entertained?" It's like watching Tim Henman trying to inspire a packed football stadium.
And for someone who so frequently extols the virtues of having a pure conscience and mental fortitude, Balian is remarkably unfettered when it comes to fornicating with a married woman. The script stirs up a sandstorm of cute moralising and theologising that the characters largely ignore, especially when it comes to upholding political correctness (newsflash: Muslims and Christians have never really seen eye-to-eye).
As a history lesson, forget it. But in terms of action-adventure, be entertained. And then forget it.
Consider the plot: ordinary but principled man loses wife, joins a noble cause, is embroiled in a snowy forest ambush, witnesses a mentor die in a veiled chamber, becomes a peerless warrior and tactician in no time, enjoys a dalliance with a beautiful royal, thus upsetting her war-loving husband and even encounters a leper. Stop me if you've heard any of these before...
What the movie needs is a believable hero. What it has is Orlando Bloom, who gives it his best but fails to convince as a great leader of men. His rallying call of "Come on!" hardly commands the attention like Mel Gibson's "Freedom!" speech or Russell Crowe thunderously demanding "Are you not entertained?" It's like watching Tim Henman trying to inspire a packed football stadium.
And for someone who so frequently extols the virtues of having a pure conscience and mental fortitude, Balian is remarkably unfettered when it comes to fornicating with a married woman. The script stirs up a sandstorm of cute moralising and theologising that the characters largely ignore, especially when it comes to upholding political correctness (newsflash: Muslims and Christians have never really seen eye-to-eye).
As a history lesson, forget it. But in terms of action-adventure, be entertained. And then forget it.