Kingdom of Heaven
Short (non-bullshit) review:
KoH was 2 hours of talking and pretentious posturing (ala’ theater) followed by 30 minutes of superb depiction of what it would be like to be involved in an actual war during the Crusades.
The first two hours was an agony to sit through because despite Orlando’s best attempts to make us believe he is a tortured hero, I never actually totally felt sorry for his plight. I guess this means Russel Crowe was a better actor because he managed to evoke the viewer’s emotions in Ridley Scott’s OTHER swords & sandals epic : Gladiator.
If you are going into this expecting it to be JUST as good as Gladiator, DON’T.
Orlando Bloom doesn’t play a convincing enough lead yet and this movie’s topic (The Crusades) is such a sensitive one that Ridley Scott doesn’t actually get to show any heroics on either side of the battle in fear of angering either faith.
Long (ego massaging) review:
In essence, I guess the underlying theme Ridley Scott was trying to include in this movie was:
There’s NO PLACE for heroism and virtuous conduct in reality.
In War; truth, justice and choosing the correct way to live your life by leads to innocents being killed.
There was one integral scene in this movie where the King of Jerusalem was about to die and he called for Balian (Bloom) to take over the control of Jerusalem and marry his sister. In order to that however, they would have to kill her current husband, the blood-thirsty bastard warmonger, Guy de Lusignan.
Kill a bad guy AND continue keeping the peace in Jerusalem and truce between the Christians and the Muslims. PLUS bag the hot chick at the same time.
A sweet deal innit ??
But NO (!) Balian HAD to uphold his heroic conscience and stay true to his virtuous ways.
In the end, the warmonger became the King of Jerusalem and his first decree(?) : pronounce war on the Muslims and stop the truce. This resulted in the death of millions of innocents on both sides of the factions as they fought over some pieces of rock and stones known as Jerusalem.
The final 30 minutes highlighted how truly barbaric and pointless WAR really is. This is where Ridley Scott really shined and showed his maestro skills rendering the camera so expertly that I really felt a part of the War. As though I was there with the armies, in the heat of battle, lost in the confusion of the cacophony of sounds and bedlam.
In those graphic moments of battle, you can’t even see who’s your ally and who’s your enemy for all the dust and smoke filling your eyes and the cries filling your ears. Everyone is so dirtied by blood, dust and sweat that they’re practically unrecognizable. All you care about is keeping your ass alive by evading that sword blow from chopping you or that catapult missile from burning you.
Pain. Fear. Confusion. Death.
Ridley gets full marks for conveying such superb images of war.
After nearly two hours of dull conversation and posturing, I was delighted that the payoff in the end was so great, yet deep down I was horrified as well as a shining realization dawned upon me.
So this is what it was like to go to War before the days of the Nuclear Weapon.
Nations gathered armies in the thousands of millions and pitted it against each other. The front lines were the lambs to the slaughter. The opener for wave upon wave of armies.......until days, nay weeks later...there was naught left but bare survivors....and the last man standing was declared the victors of war.
How barbaric...how so...bloody barbaric.....
In a way, I’m kinda grateful I was born in this day and age where people can die at the push of a (nuclear) button.
Yes we will all die innocently as well....but at least it would be quick and easy. Not slow and bloody.
I guess that’s the cowardly 21st century part of me talking there.
;-p
KoH was 2 hours of talking and pretentious posturing (ala’ theater) followed by 30 minutes of superb depiction of what it would be like to be involved in an actual war during the Crusades.
The first two hours was an agony to sit through because despite Orlando’s best attempts to make us believe he is a tortured hero, I never actually totally felt sorry for his plight. I guess this means Russel Crowe was a better actor because he managed to evoke the viewer’s emotions in Ridley Scott’s OTHER swords & sandals epic : Gladiator.
If you are going into this expecting it to be JUST as good as Gladiator, DON’T.
Orlando Bloom doesn’t play a convincing enough lead yet and this movie’s topic (The Crusades) is such a sensitive one that Ridley Scott doesn’t actually get to show any heroics on either side of the battle in fear of angering either faith.
Long (ego massaging) review:
In essence, I guess the underlying theme Ridley Scott was trying to include in this movie was:
There’s NO PLACE for heroism and virtuous conduct in reality.
In War; truth, justice and choosing the correct way to live your life by leads to innocents being killed.
There was one integral scene in this movie where the King of Jerusalem was about to die and he called for Balian (Bloom) to take over the control of Jerusalem and marry his sister. In order to that however, they would have to kill her current husband, the blood-thirsty bastard warmonger, Guy de Lusignan.
Kill a bad guy AND continue keeping the peace in Jerusalem and truce between the Christians and the Muslims. PLUS bag the hot chick at the same time.
A sweet deal innit ??
But NO (!) Balian HAD to uphold his heroic conscience and stay true to his virtuous ways.
In the end, the warmonger became the King of Jerusalem and his first decree(?) : pronounce war on the Muslims and stop the truce. This resulted in the death of millions of innocents on both sides of the factions as they fought over some pieces of rock and stones known as Jerusalem.
The final 30 minutes highlighted how truly barbaric and pointless WAR really is. This is where Ridley Scott really shined and showed his maestro skills rendering the camera so expertly that I really felt a part of the War. As though I was there with the armies, in the heat of battle, lost in the confusion of the cacophony of sounds and bedlam.
In those graphic moments of battle, you can’t even see who’s your ally and who’s your enemy for all the dust and smoke filling your eyes and the cries filling your ears. Everyone is so dirtied by blood, dust and sweat that they’re practically unrecognizable. All you care about is keeping your ass alive by evading that sword blow from chopping you or that catapult missile from burning you.
Pain. Fear. Confusion. Death.
Ridley gets full marks for conveying such superb images of war.
After nearly two hours of dull conversation and posturing, I was delighted that the payoff in the end was so great, yet deep down I was horrified as well as a shining realization dawned upon me.
So this is what it was like to go to War before the days of the Nuclear Weapon.
Nations gathered armies in the thousands of millions and pitted it against each other. The front lines were the lambs to the slaughter. The opener for wave upon wave of armies.......until days, nay weeks later...there was naught left but bare survivors....and the last man standing was declared the victors of war.
How barbaric...how so...bloody barbaric.....
In a way, I’m kinda grateful I was born in this day and age where people can die at the push of a (nuclear) button.
Yes we will all die innocently as well....but at least it would be quick and easy. Not slow and bloody.
I guess that’s the cowardly 21st century part of me talking there.
;-p
posted by NiK! at
11:51 PM
