Ahoy, squirts! Quint here... KINGDOM OF HEAVEN totally snuck up on me. I didn't realize it was out in 3 short weeks! The trailers have been epic and great (if a little too ROTK-like) and I have full trust in Scott to pull this off. The below review is a fair one, but somehow gets me more excited about the film than a completely gushing one would have been. I can't wait!!!
I caught a press screening of Kingdom of Heaven last night in Pasadena in which, going in, I was assuming was a test screening. Once the film was over and no survey cards were handed out, a dim realization set in: what I had watched was the finished film. I had read that a three hour cut was screened in January to mostly confused audiences. This final cut clocks in at 135 minutes not including credits and noticeably suffers for it. Directed by Ridley Scott, who at this point in his career is almost beyond reproach, made an extraordinary looking film. Interestingly, this film seems to come full circle for Scott, 28 years after making the extraordinary looking The Duellists. The Duellists, a flawed but passionate film debut, is mostly known for being style over substance in which the edited version of Kingdom of Heaven seems to emulate. But this time, it doesn't seem to be Scott's fault, but yet another casualty of the ignorant majority of test screening attendees and studio lemmings.
The script is certainly there, dense and reverent to both Christians and Muslims, William Monahan gives us an auspicious debut. Definitely a writer to keep an eye on, future projects include Scorsese's upcoming Infernal Affairs remake, The Departed, Tripoli and Jurassic Park IV. The plot centers on a young French blacksmith, Balian (Orlando Bloom) who numbed to life from losing his wife decides to join a crusade to the Holy Land led by his estranged father Godfrey of Ibelin(Liam Neeson). Once there, relationships form with various Christian factions, both good: Tiberias(Jeremy Irons) and King Baldwin IV(a great vocal performance from a prominent actor) and bad: Guy de Lusigna(Marton Csoka) who is married to King Baldwin's sister, Sybilla(Eva Green). Peace is held until a group of Knights Templar led by Guy de Lusigna slaughter Saracen knights and the Muslim leader Saladin's(an amazing film debut from Syrian actor Ghassan Massoud) sister which provokes a Muslim siege on Jerusalem. That's the plot in a rather paraphrased nutshell. Davis Thewlis also shows up as a warrior priest who bestows intermittent advice to Balian and Brendan Gleeson as Reynald, a fellow conspirator to Guy de Lusigna.
My biggest fault with the casting can probably be guessed. To be sure, I like Orlando Bloom and I think he is a good actor with a great career ahead of him, but does he have the gravitas to carry a film like this at this point in his career? In my opinion, no. In the early sequences, when he is paired with Liam Neeson, it works. He works. A paternal bond is felt and sharing the screen with Nesson seems natural. Once Bloom begins to carry the film himself, however, I can feel the energy slowly deflating from his performance, from the film. The requisite rousing speeches at the end have no bite, no emotion. Whatever flaws afflict Braveheart or Gladiator, it was not concerning the doubt of the central character, not to mention Neeson's own underrated Rob Roy. Can this be attributed to the edited version? Possibly, but it's also understandable considering Bloom has to hold his own against one of the best ensemble casts in quite some time. Actors that in comparison are wholly underutilized. Jeremy Irons commands every second of screentime that he has, an unfortunate minority compared to Blooms. Ghassan Massoud will stare right the fuck through you, a great face. Eva Green who some of you will know from The Dreamers shows another great facet of her ability. Jouko Ahola(who was widely scrutinized for his performance as Zishe in Herzog's Invincible and strongest man 97' and 99') just fucking grabbed the screen by it's throat in his one scene. Upon seeing him for the first time in an early battle sequence with medieval weapons, just fucking hold on, man. He was the one I wanted to follow to the Holy Land. He has a few great moments,in that seqence but later in the film don't be surprised if you mentally replace Bloom with Ahola. For a few gleeful moments, I had Conan the Barbarian meets The Holy Wars.
Ultimately, I'm recommending the film based solely on some wonderful performances and the film being arguably Scott's best looking film in 20 years. Bloom's performance didn't grab me but that's subjective and might also be dependent on the choppiness of cutting 30 to 45 minutes out of the film. There are three weeks left......
The Crawling Eye
Ahoy, squirts! Quint here again, this time with another reader who has seen Scott's newest opus and boy does this one love up on it! I can't friggin' wait!
Thought I would drop you a line to let you know I attending a screening of Ridley Scotts latest at the weekend.The crowd I saw it with gave the film a standing ovation at the end and there was particular excitement during the lengthy siege of Jurusalem, which has to be the greatesty substained battle sequence I have ever seen on film.
Performances were all topnotch including Orlando Bloom, which came as a huge shock to me as I hated him in Troy. Best performance was by Edward Norton who did some quite amazing things with just his voice but the whole cast were stellar.The movie didnt seem to have an ounce of fat and there were a number of scenes that leave a lasting impression on the viewer for a long time afterwards.
If I had to pick faults it would be with the beginning of the movie which seemed to be edited fairly choppily. Some of the fight scenes were also edited in that favoured design of Ridleys which he used in Gladiator where the viewer struggles to keep up with what exactly is happening onscreen. These faults aside the movie is probably one of the best I have seen in a long time and a definite consideration for year-end awards where it should certainly clean up in the technical catergories and I would hope that Ridley gets a nod too. The films music score is a must own too and really suited to the film for a change. All in all, a fantastic experience on the big screen and an Epic that lives up to its name.
Call me Gypsy King.
