"Rise a knight!" (Review)

I finally managed to find a copy of Kingdom of Heaven to watch. While Blockbuster's new 'no-late-fees' campaign is great for people like me who rarely manage to get their movies back on time, it also means that new titles are often hard to find. People are keeping them longer, which keeps them off the shelves longer. Luckily the nice sales assistant managed to find a copy in the return bin.

Ridley Scott has directed one of my favourite films, Gladiator. With Kingdom of Heaven he again tries to recreate the past with medieval knights, magnificent cities and epic battles. Does he succeed? Well it's a bit of a mixed bag actually. I had already heard a number of different opinions on Kingdom of Heaven, some good, some bad. And now you get my opinion.

And what is my opinion? Well, I'm still not sure myself. While I really enjoy set-pieces and was interested to see Scott's take on the Crusades, I found Heaven to be a little hard to follow at first. I would guess that if you're a real history buff and already know the details surrounding Saladin's eventual capture of Jerusalem then you wouldn't have any problems. For me, I was still trying to figure out who was who after about an hour into the film. So for the first half of the picture I didn't have high hopes. But, like the young peasant who got turned into a newt in Monty Python's Holy Grail, it got better.

After finally having a good idea of who the people were and what they were doing I was genuinely interested to see how things would turn out. Balian (Orlando Bloom) is a young blacksmith who has recently lost his wife and daughter and is met by Godfrey (Liam Neeson). Godfrey confesses that he is Balian's father and asks him to join him in Jerusalem as protector of the people and servant of King Baldwin (cunningly portrayed by the sneaky Edward Norton). Balian initially refuses but then changes his mind after murdering a local priest. Perhaps Jerusalem holds the forgiveness and redemption Balian feels he needs. On the road events transpire which leave Balian as sole heir of Godfrey's estate, men and quest to protect the people. Now a knight, Balian is left to defend Jerusalem against Saladin and his army.

There's really a lot more going on here than a simple battle to defend a city. The movie is more a comment on religion than anything else, I felt. I'm not sure how accurate it is but the motivations of the leaders are believable given the atrocities that have been conducted in the name of God. One character sums it up well; "I put no stock in religion. By the word religion I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of god." The movie asks the question, 'What is the will of God?' And for making me think that deeply during a seemingly 'swash-swash, buckle-buckle' story (my wife gets credit for that term) I think Kingdom of Heaven deserves praise.

Ethics, religion, morality and history aside, this is still one great film to watch. The main battle at the end of the film has some pretty amazing moments. However, it also seems very familiar. As Saladin's enormous army marches on the city, complete with trebuchets, siege towers and rams, both Shauna and I were reminded of Minas Tirith and the Battle for Pelennor Fields in Return of the King. I don't know if this was deliberate mimicry to cash in on some of Peter Jackson's success or if it's simply an accurate depiction of siege warfare at the time. My guess is the latter and the only reason we haven't seen this kind of epic siege battle before Return of the King is that the special effects required to pull it off convincingly haven't been available until recently. Regardless of the reasons, the battle is fantastic and engaging.

Most of the performances are also quite well done. Liam Neeson and Edward Norton both deliver wonderfully, if briefly. Orlando Bloom does his best, but it's really not much different from anything we've seen him do before. I'm still not sure what all the hype is about this guy. The writing is also very well done and it is during much of the dialogue that the thought provoking questions arise. If it weren't for the fact that I was struggling a bit with what exactly was going on I would probably have a lot more to say about the exceptional script.

Kingdom of Heaven is released on a 2-disc set. The main feature is presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic video which does well in reproducing the faded look of an ancient city in the middle of a desert. Images are sharp with little or no noticeable blurring or artifacts. A DTS soundtrack is also available but I found that it was underused. Most of the effects come straight from the front channels with the rear channels only used for ambient noise and music. I don't recall any 'surround' moments during the battles, which is disappointing. I have not had a chance to look at any of the special features either, but I would be interested to see if some additional history on the story is provided.

I commented to my wife that my typical method for evaluating a DVD is whether I would buy it or not. I'm still not sure about Kingdom of Heaven. I definitely want to see it again, simply to understand more of what's going on, but I can't quite make up my mind on the replayability of it. However, I would certainly recommend seeing it at least once. It is certainly entertaining and gets you thinking, which is more than you can say about most movies.

Kingdom of Heaven gets 7 swords (out of 10).

Fanatical trivia for 'Kingdom of Heaven'.