*** Official KINGDOM OF HEAVEN Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Lee Scoggins]

You're kidding me! He gave one of the most wooden and dry performances I have seen in a while.

I'm sorry but Eva Green still does nothing for me.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

If any good can come from films like this, it makes some viwers seek out real history. I Googled Saladin (that doesn't sound right) and read up on some parts of the crusade.


I was thinking the same thing.....

 

[MatthewLouwrens]

I wans't planning to see it, and was wanting to wait until I can see the director's cut. But a friend invited me, so I went.

I actually enjoyed it, and was glad to have seen it on the big screen. Visually the film was beautiful, stunning, a real visual treat. That was the highlight for me.

Perhaps it was because I knew going into it that there was a good 1 1/2 hours cut, but I was very much aware of the lack of strong character development in a lot of areas. I was also wanting more discussion of the politics behind the situation. But hopefully I'll get all that from the director's cut.

Still worth seeing on the big screen just for the visual beauty of the film. Just a shame we couldn't get an uncompromised version first time around.

 

[Mark Z]

Spoiler

Got to the movie late because of traffic. I arrived right when Orlando Bloom was talking to the priest and then pushed him into the fire. Can anyone tell me what I missed? At the end of the movie, Orlando is looking at a grave and then rides away with the former Queen. Was that the grave of his former wife?

Thanks

Spoiler

Got to the movie late because of traffic. I arrived right when Orlando Bloom was talking to the priest and then pushed him into the fire. Can anyone tell me what I missed? At the end of the movie, Orlando is looking at a grave and then rides away with the former Queen. Was that the grave of his former wife?

 

[John Gates]

DUDE! Spoiler tags, please!

Some of us are curious but have not seen this film. :frowning:

John

 

[Mark Z]

John,
I did not put spoiler tags on because this is the discussion thread.

Mark Z

 

[DustinLC]

Same here. She was ok in other movies but in this one, they really went out of their way to get the bad eye shadows and show all the closeup artifacts. It's as if they wanted her to look ugly. She had such a big role that if it was a more appealing princess, I would rate it a notch higher.

Yeah, please why the spoiler tag in a discussion forum. If you haven't seen it and don't want to be spoiled, you go to the review thread. This is for people to talk about the events that happened in the movie.

 

[Jim_C]

Well, after reading the so-so reviews, I wasn't planning to see this in the theater. My buddy wanted to see it so I went along and I'm glad I did.

I was pleasantly surprised by this film. I was expecting a visually stunning film but not much else. There was a decent story and decent acting with interesting battle scenes. I've been feeling 'battle fatigue' after seeing so many movies with this type of fighting (LOTR, Troy, etc) and I was expecting to disinterested. Not so.

Anyway, I thought Bloom was fine as was Green. Beauty is not always defined by teased hair, makeup, and great curves.


Now, what I had no idea about was the amount of material that was apparently cut out. Can someone give me a few more details? Did the studio execs really cut out over an hour of footage? Is it confirmed that there is going to be a directors cut of this film?

 

[doug zdanivsky]

Just saw it tonight..

I was dissapointed by comments that it was a disjointed mess..

But I found it to be a good show..

In fact, far from fleshing out Bloom's relationship with the "queen", I wish they had cut that whole side-plot out entirely, in favour of more scenes with the great Neason, or Norton..

They had ABSOLUTELY no chemistry!!!

 

[Aaron Reynolds]

I went in expecting nothing, having read nothing -- I suddenly had three hours to kill and it was playing at the right time in the right place.

Well, I loved it. The politics really interested me, as did many of the odd and interesting characters. Also, in an age of brutally incomprehensible battle sequences on film, the final siege in Kingdom of Heaven stands head and shoulders above anything I've seen in probably the last ten years: it's so perfectly constructed that I always knew exactly what was going on, without the film resorting to cheap explanatory dialogue.

It was attractive to look at, had a really fun performance from Jeremy Irons, and always moved in a direction that I didn't fully expect. It's the best film from Ridley Scott that I've seen in a long time.

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

According to Cinescape.com Ridley Scott's "director's cut" of Kingdom of Heaven is now playing on a single screen in Los Angeles (just in time to qualify for the Oscars).

It runs 45 minutes longer and is officially labeled "director's cut", as opposed to the rumored "extended edition".

I am very excited! Is there anyone here who lives in L.A. and can catch a screening of this new cut and give us a big, fat, juicy report on it?

Either way, this bodes extremely well for that four-disc release in 2006 coming to pass.

Cheers!

 

[Jack _Webster]

I second this request. I've been itching to find about what would be included in the director's cut. If anybody has the chance to go see this, please do!

It annoys me that I can't go myself. I hope the DVD release won't be too far behind.

 

[Elijah Sullivan]

If you want a somewhat detailed breakdown of the additions, Jack, click here:

http://www.ka-bloom.org/forum/index....ic=13021&st=36

Disclaimer: harcore Orlando Bloom fansite with some lovesick girls with "fixations" :rolleyes

 

[Jack _Webster]

Through some digging, I actually did read that last night. Truly awesome! The director's cut sounds like it will be the film I had hoped to see earlier this year.

 

[Darcy Hunter]

This is just a heads up to people who live in the L.A. area: it appears that Fox is presenting an exclusive engagement of the longer director's cut of Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven for the next two weeks. The film will be showing at the Laemmle Fairfax 3, on Beverly Boulevard. Since I've been waiting for a longer cut so I can finally enjoy what Scott originally wanted us to see, I'm dying to know what this version is like. If any HTF members manage to catch this, can you please report back on the quality of the film? Sadly it's a little too far of a drive for me...

 

[Andres Munoz]

I saw the trailer back when it first came out on theaters and I wasn't interested at all. Too many "swords and sandals" movies back to back (Troy, Alexander and probably a couple more I'm failing to mention) I said.

Well, I finally said -what the heck- and rented it last night and I must say I was impressed. As previously mentioned, the cinematography was just gorgeous! The battle scenes very, very well done and the acting was not bad at all.

My favorite character was the king under the mask. He had a lot of charisma. I had no idea who was playing him. Imagine my surprise when after reading this thread, I find out it was Edward Norton. Great, subtle role (and yes, I agree about the Marlon Brando Godfather "impersonation").

IMHO, Orlando Bloom did a respectable job of leading. And the always dependable Liam Neeson stole every scene he was on.

The one thing I didn't like at all was the relationship between Bloom and the Queen. I'm not sure if that's because of all the material that was cut or they simply didn't flesh it out but she didn't seem to do anything. During the last stand behind the walls of the city, all she did was look worried and nothing else. And why did she cut her hair?? Lot of things I didn't get about her character.

All in all, a good, entertaining movie.

 

[Justin_S]

I think this is the most underrated film of 2005, and I am very eager to see the director's cut. Thanks for the update.

 

[Todd_N]

Over at www.thehotbutton.com , Dave Poland has the extended cut listed in his top 10 films of 2005. He says that it is a totally different movie. I guess I will have to patiently wait for the extended cut to make its way to DVD.

 

[Jim_C]

Here's the text from the link above


I enjoyed the theatrical version but wished it was a bit more fleshed out. It appears I'll get that and then some. It's infuriating that Fox hacked this film to pieces. At least we'll get the original version on DVD and I for one can't wait.

 

[Kyle_D]

Moriarty has posted a pretty angry review of the DC up at AICN (before you dismiss it, remember that Moriarty is the saving grace at AICN) where he slams the Fox execs for forcing Ridley Scott to cut the film to the release version.