Kingdom of Heaven Review
by "samseescinema" (sammeriam AT comcast DOT net)May 20th, 2005
Kingdom of Heaven
Reviewed by Sam Osborn of www.samseescinema.com
Rating: 2 out of 4
Count Kingdom of Heaven as strike four for the Epic Genre. Following in the deeply imprinted footsteps of Troy, King Arthur, and Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven puts to shame a director whose earlier films have been events to look forward to. Wolfgang Peterson (Das Boot), Antoine Fuqua (Training Day), Oliver Stone (Platoon), and now Ridley Scott (Gladiator) have all played victim to this current trend of disappointing historical period pieces that rely heavily on budget but forget to give the screenplay the final polish they need. Epics now have become a sad joke in the film world. Finding people willing to pay eight dollars to see Kingdom of Heaven with me was actually difficult. Because of the last year's disappointments, the Epic now equals boredom. Kingdom of Heaven is no exception.
Set in 12th century Jerusalem, Kingdom of Heaven focuses on one man's journey through the controversial wars known as the Crusades. We meet our hero, Balion (Orlando Bloom) in a decrepit village working as a blacksmith in the wake of the death of his wife and child. His father, Godfrey (Liam Neeson) arrives on the scene and asks him to join his army on their way to Jerusalem. At first he declines, but after being disowned by the village priest, and later killing him, Balion takes up his father's offer. Soon he finds himself in the position to become king of the Christians and take command of the battle for Jerusalem, along with his mistress Sibylla (Eva Green).
When I studied the Crusades in my high school history class, the most interesting aspect of the text was the controversy behind the fighting. The Crusades wore a veneer of religion and holy honor; but behind this mask lay endless depths of political and financial intention. Millions were brought to their death in the name of the salvation of their holy land, only to find their holy land was a ruse for their leaders to find profit. I'm just touching the surface here, but the Crusades were controversial! Entire nations of men lost their faith to the horrors of the Crusades. But Ridley Scott touches on nearly none of this. He veers his film in the opposite direction, one of simple battle mounting to a final showdown at Jerusalem. The film turns into Muslims vs. Christians, Round 1, 2, 3, and 4. Scott lets Kingdom of Heaven lapse into the dredges we've waded through in Troy and nearly drowned in with Alexander. I want an Epic with heart, not incoherent battle scenes that leave us bored and slightly disgusted at the piles of stringy decapitated bodies.
Scott goes to such lengths to avoid historical expositition that if there weren't crosses on the fronts of every soldier's costume, I'm confident audiences could go the entire length of the film without realizing it was set in the Crusades. His last venture into the historical genre was the Best Picture winning Gladiator. The film took the Oscar not because of its abundance of action sequences, but because it succeeded in weaving complex political intrigue into its harrowing story of revenge. Kingdom of Heaven tries none of this. There's a gold mine of potential here, but Scott sadly ignores it.
This would be acceptable, however, if Scott managed to make Kingdom of Heaven into a successful film about a war and its hero. Instead, Orlando Bloom and the immensely talented Eva Green are left with hollow characters that are never given the chance to fully bloom. The film rushes through the opening hour to come to a screeching halt at the battle for Jerusalem, where half the film takes place. Not only does this screw with the pacing, making it awkward and clumsy, but it also leaves the two main characters nearly unknown to the audience. We're only allowed to really "experience" Orlando Bloom's character in the heat of battle. But by that point, it doesn't matter because we have nothing to relate his violence to. Scottt tries to get us to see that he fights for his redemption, not for his religion, but this theme fails because we're already alienated from his character by the rushed beginning. The same goes for Eva Green's character. Her relationship with Bloom is built in a measly two scenes that leave much to be desired. Their characters rely on these two scenes for the rest of the film, making their interaction lackluster at best. By no fault of the actors, Kingdom of Heaven ruins any chance of the audience's interest in its characters. And in a near criminal fault, Liam Neeson's pivotal character is killed off in the opening 35 minutes, again a consequence of the rushed first half.
As in all these hollow Epics, the ill-fated director still has a hand for the visuals. Kingdom of Heaven is no exception to this rule. Scott toys with some interesting color symbolism, cool camera tricks, and some great editing to enhance this time period and his beautifully visceral battle sequences. The film looks like a moving canvas of skilled artistry. In one scene, Neeson and Bloom are practicing sword-play in their camp hidden in the forest. Snow drifts slowly down from the evergreen pines, swirling about their swords with each jab and parry. A knight approaches and warns of orders to have Bloom taken prisoner. Seconds later a line of crossbowmen rise and fire golden arrows through the camp, piercing one man in the neck. This sparks a gorgeous combat sequence, where Scott takes a page from Gladiator and uses frame-skip editing to make the violence jumpier and exponentially more visceral. Scenes like these are what make Kingdom of Heaven bearable. It may lack intelligence and any sense of character development, but the film does sport some great visuals and a few exciting battle sequences. Does this make it worth seeing? No, you'll still be left with that disappointed feeling you had at the end of King Arthur, or Alexander, or Troy. But maybe the next epic will cure this. Who knows.
-Sam Osborn of www.samseescinema.com
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