Kingdom of Heaven

Pros: Grand armies in desert; Nuanced political view
Cons: Weak storytelling; Orlando Bloom

[no spoilers] People never seem to learn from history. For the last thousand years, white people have been marching to the Middle East, only to get slaughtered in the desert over and over again. A grandly staged war epic, “Kingdom of ...

Pros: Bloom, Irons, Neeson, and Scotts brilliant camera work!
Cons: the story can drag just a during the first half.

During a period when tensions are high (for obvious reasons!) between Muslims and Christians, I'm surprised Ridley Scott ever got the backing to produce a film like this. Set in the 11th Century between the first and second crusades, Scott, ...

Pros: Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, David Thewlis, Marton Csokas, Ridley Scott, music score by Gregson-Williams
Cons: savagely cut for summer audiences

Kingdom of Heaven directed by Ridley Scott has been given a raw deal by those who have given far too much credence to early reviews and guess'timations based solely on the premise that Orlando is too young to take a leading role. More than half the early ...

Pros: Graphics, acting
Cons: Difficult to follow, weak storyline. Could not connect with characters

Unable to afford the high price of movie tickets, I highly anticipated this movie being available on cable. Finally, last night, the time had come. What I thought was going to be a highly-detailed historical endeavor turned out to be somewhat of a ...

Pros: Forest Fight involving Godfrey and his knights, the soundtrack, Neeson, Thewlis, and Norton characters.
Cons: This film was not edited well. Balian's character. Battle scenes were not original.

Writing My opinions and personal views based on William Monohan's screenplay and "vision", The film starts off very promising with Balian as a village blacksmith in 12 century France expressing anger, hurt, and grief by pounding away at hot metal, as he ...

Pros: Epic Storyline, Superb characters, unmatched action sequences, and a relatively happy ending
Cons: Historical Inaccuracy

When I first saw "Kingdom of Heaven" I'll admit that I was rather skeptical. Medieval History being my obsession I approached fully expecting to find a miriad of historical errors and an overall poor film. However, I was to be pleasantly surprised. ...

Pros: An educational movie.
Cons: I did not find any.

If you are a person who likes Braveheart and Gladiator, here is another DVD that you need to see. I am talking about the Kingdom of Heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven dates back to the time of the first crusades. Orlando Bloom’s character is the son of a ...

Pros: Perfect casting and script and detail in the sets and costumes; thought provoking.
Cons: Not for those requiring 100% accuracy in historical characters over effective presentation of historical events.

I just watched the movie Kingdom of Heaven on DVD rental, all the while regretting having missed it on the big screen. I had intended to see it in the theater but decided to wait until it came to video because of some reviews I had read. Big mistake. ...

Pros: Ridley Scott
Cons: None

First, and I cant stress this enough, when I say, THIS IS NOT LORD OF THE RINGS. People cant keep judging every epic against the LOTR yard stick. LOTR was a one-off movie, and although Peter Jackson did an absolutely fantastic job, we must remember that he was working with was is arguably the greatest story ever written. LOTR, like Star Wars must stand alone in cinematic history.

So judge this film for what it is not for what it isn't.

So what is it?

Well its a film about the crusades, and it well tackles a subject that is difficult to tackle. Now more than ever. And it leaves you with the right message.

Ridley Scott once again proves he is a true master of his craft and paints the screen with beautiful sights and sounds.

Orlando Bloom turns in a good performance and shows that he is a growing talent.

was I entertained? yeah a lot
did I emote? yeah a little

So it was a good movie

Pros: Great costumes, music scores and battle scenes.
Cons: Poor story-telling, lacks emotion.

Ridley Scott is undoubtedly a great director. He has proved it , among others, with The Gladiator and Thelma and Louise. His direction is again great in The Kingdom of God. However, it is in the story that this movie suffers. The writer/director seemed to wish to impress the viewers too much with battle scenes. A moving focusing solely on special effects or action scenes is uninteresting if the story is shallow or unclear. I found the characters are not well-defined. We feel no emotion or compassion for them. The love story has been integrated probably only to attract female movie-goers. We don’t feel excited or interested in the intrigue, because no desire or build-up has been built between the characters. What saves this movie are the battle scenes, the music and, for women, the opportunity to see Orlando Bloom for more than two and half hours! It is not the purpose of this movie to find solutions to the Middle East conflict, but as in other great epics such as the Ten Commandments and Ben Hur, it would have been a great occasion to learn and understand more thoroughly a fascinating historical period.

Pros: Actionpacked, Great Direction and Production
Cons: boring acting by Bloom

I'm a history buff and always had a love for history of the Crusades. Before the release of the film, I wondered if it will create conflict among religious communities such as the Muslims between Christian communities. As a young Muslim American I always thought that Muslims were portrayed negatively in Hollywood films. This film however directed by Ridley Scott did not do that. Astonishingly even in a time where Muslims in the world are put down negtively. I believe this film was greatly acted, however Bloom could have done a better job in his seriuousness in his role. The beginning of the film was quiet confusing however and unreal in how the Baron of Ibelin would take in his bastard son for his job. However the plot thickens and new characters are introduced and the exciting action unfolds. In addition it also must be pointed out that ofcourse this film is not at all historically accurate.

Pros: great story, beautiful costumes
Cons: not enough alexander siddig

i love this movie. my favorite genre is medieval-era period movies and the fact that my favorite actor of all-time[alexander siddig] plays nasir-makes this movie even more enjoyable. i even go through the info during the day on my cable to see if kingdom of heaven is on during the day.

i just wish alexander siddig had more screen time than he did.[but that's just me] i loved the little trade-off he had with balien[bloom]. first, balien spares his life, then he does the same after the battle of kerak. my favorite line of the whole movie came from siddig-'your quality will be known among enemies before ever you meet them, my friend'