Orlando Bloom

Eva Green

Jeremy Irons

David Thewlis

Ghassan Massoud

Liam Neeson

Brendan Gleeson

Marton Csokas

Alexander Siddig

Michael Sheen

Khaled El Nabawy

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Kevin McKidd

Velibor Topic

Jon Finch

Ulrich Thomsen

Jouko Ahola

Shane Attwooll

Peter Cant

Nathalie Cox

Emilio Doorgasingh

Samira Draa

Ériq Ebouaney

Giannina Facio

Iain Glen

Philip Glenister

Martin Hancock

Lotfi Yahya Jedidi

Nasser Memarzia

Steven Robertson

Matthew Rutherford

Karim Saleh

Michael Shaeffer

Bronson Webb

Angus Wright

Edward Norton

Harry Gregson-Williams

Janty Yates

Terry Needham

Ridley Scott

John Mathieson

Sonja Klaus

Lisa Ellzey

Robert Cowper

Dody Dorn

Debra Zane

Branko Lustig

Jina Jay

John King

Ivo Hušnjak

William Monahan

Arthur Max

Antoinette Boulat

Adil Abdelwahab

Peter Burgis

Andie Derrick

Peter Gleaves

Bruce Devan

Thierry Potok

Mark Albela

Teresa Kelly

José Luis Escolar

Ty Warren

Denise O'Dell

Karim Abouobayd

Henning Molfenter

Hugh Johnson

Carlos Bodelón

Alessandro Alberti

Marco Trentini

Louis Joon

Damir Gabelica

John Marzano

Lora E. Revitt

Brahim Ait Belkas

Martin Hume

Daniele Massaccesi

David Appleby

Andrea Cripps

Abdellah Baadil

Alain Brochu

Fatiha Aitbadi

Giancarlo Di Fusco

Colin Jackman

Francesca Birri

Saida Elidrissi

Iñigo Navarro

Marcelle Genovese

Stephen Barton

Simon Chase

Bryan Bowen

Peter Chiang

Gary Roberts

Shawn Walsh

Emanuele Salvatore

Claudia Dehmel

Topaz Adizes

Fred Brown

Mariam Lee Abounouom

Paul Engelen

El Mahjoub Najma

Anna Worley

Chuck Finch

David Stephenson

Clare Spragge

Gabi Brown

Brian Bero

Robert Hamilton

Judy Barr

Victoria Alonso

Patrick Esposito

Daniel Urdiales

Ian Differ

Dean Brkic

Steve Newman

Diego Campos

Gonzalo Cañellas

Gary Dodkin

Per Hallberg

Robert Capan

Oleg Botin

Tannis Vallely

Harry Barnes

Gary Brozenich

Carmen Ruiz de Huidobro

Brian Baverstock

Sam Horsefield

Giorgio Catalano

Mark Meddings

Gustáv Kyselica

Neil Corbould

Drama

Action

Adventure

History

Kingdom of Heaven

Scott Free Productions

Reino del Cielo

Inside Track 3

20th Century Fox

Babelsberg Film

Germany

Spain

United Kingdom

United States of America

Good start and ending, weak middle, but magnificent photography and haunting score  

"Kingdom of Heaven" (2005) isn’t as good as contemporaneous sword & sandal flicks "Troy" (one of my favorites) and "King Arthur" (very good), but it's not bad either.

THE PLOT: After the death of his child and suicide of his wife, Balian (Orlando Bloom) meets his long, lost father (Liam Neeson) who encourages him to go to Jerusalem and start a new life. After a long eventful trip, Balian arrives in Jerusalem and is introduced to Princess Sibylla (Eva Green), the leprous King Baldwin and other VIPs. The political maneuverings of these key personnel is mindboggling (I suggest using the subtitles to keep track of who’s who) but, when all is said and done, Balian must rise to the challenge of defending the city against Saladin (Ghassan Massoud) and his great Muslim army.

Like "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "Kingdom of Heaven" is a film that can be enjoyed just for the visuals and soundtrack. The film was shot in Morocco where a vast replica of ancient Jerusalem was built in the desert with the backgrounds enhanced by CGI effects, and so on.

Story-wise, the beginning and ending are strong while the convoluted soap operatics of Jerusalem aren't very compelling, but Eva Green's awesome eyes help.

I'm no connoisseur of the crusades but I realize the filmmakers put a modern spin on the events and ideology of the characters. So what else is new? In any case, I was impressed that all the main players are based on real-life people and that the gist of the story is accurate.

The Theatrical Cut runs 144 minutes and the Director's Cut about 48 minutes longer. The DC is heralded as one of the best DCs ever, like "Daredevil" (2003).

BOTTOM LINE: "Kingdom of Heaven" is worth it just for the magnificent visuals and soundtrack. The story starts strong and ends strong while the dramatics of the lengthy mid-section are complicated and not very compelling. But story drive and interesting characters were never director Ridley Scott’s strong suit. Nevertheless, Orlando Bloom is likable as the protagonist and Massoud makes for a striking Saladin, who doesn’t appear till the halfway point.

GRADE: C+/B-

One of the most hated movies by Ridley Scott, that shows the difference of what versions and cuts can have on a movie. This movie have a Theatrical version (144 min.) a Director's Cut (189 min.) and Director's Cut Roadshow Version (194 min.) (that I watched years after watching  the theatrical on cinema). 

The movie is loosely based on the story of Balian I of Ibelin (originally a noble of French or Italy, but portraited as his son in this movie and epoch) travels to Jerusalem during the Crusades of the 12th century, and there he finds himself as the defender of the city and its people.

A tale of noble actions and ideals on the 2nd Crusade among equally noblesse and troubled people. It is not totally historically accurate (let's say 50%) but is one of the most impressive movies about the crusade with all the desert, sun and bloody scenes than you can imagine (and a fictional end).

Originally a 7.0 raised up to a 7.8 out of 10.0 in this version B+ (not sure if this is the version that Netflix have).