Ridley Scott’s director’s cut of his crusade epic Kingdom of Heaven arrives on 4K physical media at last from Disney/20th Century Studios Home Entertainment.
The Production: 4/5
Set during the Christian Crusades, Ridley Scott’s Kingdom of Heaven tells the tale of a young blacksmith and engineer, Balian (Orlando Bloom), who mourns the loss of his wife who recently committed suicide over their stillborn daughter. Condemned by his brother (Michael Sheen), one of the town’s priests, for his wife’s sins, Balian is just trying to live day to day. One day, an entourage of Crusaders led by Godfrey (Liam Neeson) arrives in town looking for lodging and supplies. Godfrey reveals to Balian that he is his actual father, inviting Balian to join him on his journey to Jerusalem in hopes of getting to know him and make amends for abandoning Balian and his mother. Balian declines at first, eventually joining the entourage after killing his brother in a rage of passion. On the journey, Godfrey is killed in battle, bestowing his title as Baron of Ibelin to Balian.
Finally arriving in Jerusalem, Balian quickly realizes there is a nasty game of politics going on between King Baldwin IV (an uncredited Edward Norton) who is on the verge of death from leprosy and power hungry Guy de Lusignan (Martin Csokas) who through his sham marriage to Baldwin’s sister Sibylla (Eva Green) is in line to be king after their son. Baldwin has been keeping the peace with Sultan Saladin (Ghassan Moussoud), but Guy and his crusaders are under the impression that, according to the Pope, they can accomplish anything with God on their side, including defeating Saladin’s troops. What follows is an epic tale of Balian finding himself, fighting for what he believes to be morally right, and eventually redemption while never glorifying the Crusades, one of the darkest periods of world history. Adding to Scott’s massive cast is David Thewlis, Bronson Webb, a pre-Games of Thrones Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brendan Gleeson, and Jeremy Irons.
Disney/20th Century Studios’ release features only the 3+ hour director’s cut in both traditional and roadshow presentations (adding an overture and intermission that give the film a more epic feel) – the original theatrical cut is not included. This is the preferred version of the film, which adds more character development (including romance between Balian and Sybilla) and adds a necessary subplot of Sybilla’s son that better explains not only Guy’s rise to power but also why Sybilla allowed her husband’s rise. This director’s cut is one of those instances where the longer cut not only flows more easily but feels much shorter than the theatrical cut, which had a shorter running time.
Video: 5/5
3D Rating: NA
Kingdom of Heaven was shot on 35mm Kodak film stock on Arricam LT and ST cameras in the Super35 process and was completed as a 2K digital intermediate in the 2.39:1 aspect ratio. Per IMDB, that 2K digital intermediate was upscaled to create a new 4K digital intermediate that was meticulously remastered using digital tools and HDR grading under Ridley Scott’s approval. Disney’s 2160p HEVC encode includes both Dolby Vision and HDR10 high dynamic range and fitted on a BD100 disc (the Roadshow version utilizes seamless branching to retain a high bitrate throughout). A fine layer of film grain is evident throughout, and fine details like battle scars, fabric textures and imperfections in Baldwin’s metal mask receive a noticeable improvement, even when comparing the included remastered Blu-ray to the original Fox Blu-ray from 2006. Colors appear natural and vivid where intended, never appearing overly saturated. Contrast is excellent, allowing for deep blacks with strong shadow detail, noticeable during many of the scenes set at night. This is the best this film has ever looked.
Audio: 5/5
Released theatrically on 35mm film in 5.1 with highly compressed Dolby Digital, DTS and SDDS soundtracks, Disney has upgraded the sound to lossless Dolby Atmos (with a backwards compatible Dolby TrueHD 7.1 mix), open ing up the soundstage considerably without ever being gimmicky and still respecting the original 5.1 sound design. This is a terrific listen with incredible depth and spatiality, adding more room ambience that reflects the setting on screen. Atmospheric effects like insects, wind, etc. sound naturally placed within the listening/viewing environment, and surrounds are active where necessary with sounds moving seamlessly. Dialogue is clear and understandable throughout.
Special Features: 4.5/5
Nothing new is included here, but nearly all of the special features from previous releases across all disc mediums have been ported over, mostly to the third special features Blu-ray disc.
UHD & Blu-ray Movie Discs
Audio Commentary with Ridley Scott, writer William Monahan and actor Orlando Bloom (Roadshow version only)
Audio Commentary with Lisa Ellzey, Wesley Sewell and Adam Somnmer (Roadshow version only)
Audio Commentary with Dody Dorn (Roadshow version only)
The Engineer’s Guide Test Trivia Track (Roadshow version only)
Introduction by Ridley Scott (upscaled 2160p/upscaled 1080p; 1:01)
Blu-ray Bonus Disc
The Path to Redemption (480i; 141:49)
Production Sequence: A series of galleries and video featurettes (in 480i) covering stages of production from Development thru to creating and marketing of the Director’s Cut.
Archive: Includes Ridley Scott: Creating Worlds (480i; 2:37), Production Featurette (480i; 2:18), Wardrobe Featurette (480i; 2:12) and Orlando Bloom: The Adventure of a Lifetime (480i; 2:11)
Digital Copy: A Movies Anywhere code is included to redeem a digital copy of the film. Unfortunately, this is a complete mess when it comes to what version each digital retailer offers.
Movies Anywhere: Roadshow version in 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos; Theatrical and Director’s Cut in 1080p Dolby Digital+ 5.1 under special features. Also includes all of the special features from the disc release.
Apple TV: Roadshow version in 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos; Theatrical and Director’s Cut in 1080p Dolby Digital+ 5.1 under special features. Also includes all of the special features from the disc release. This applies to Apple TV devices only.
Fandango at Home: Roadshow version in 4K Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. No special features or other versions are included.
Prime Video: Roadshow version in 1080p Dolby Digital+ 5.1.
Overall: 4.5/5
Ridley Scott’s director’s cut of Kingdom of Heaven has never looked or sounded better. Although sold out at most retailers almost immediately, more inventory should be on the way.
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