Kingdom of Heaven

Kingdom of Heaven is the latest epic war masterpiece from the now knighted Sir Ridley Scott who also gave us Black Hawk Down, Gladiator and 1492: Conquest of Paradise. Those three movies are huge in story, full of talented actors doing great work and with a dark style with massive battles and amounts of blood, and Kingdom of Heaven fits that group perfectly, being a better movie that 1942 and also more likeable than the very violent Black Hawk Down. Compared to Oscar winner Gladiator, is right up there with it, though since it's being released early in the year and focusing more on the story (the Crusades of the 12th Century) than its hero (Balian of Ibelin) will probably hurt the movie's award chances. Very unfortunate, because if it were released in December, It would be fighting for the top spots.

As mentioned before, the story of the Crusades and he fights for Jerusalem is the center of the movie, balancing the Christians and Muslims sides very well, to the point were the are no big villains, only those inside each side that want war instead of peace. But war is (sadly even these days) inevitable anyways, so this particular battle starts off as the result of bad guys in the Christians side, led by Guy de Lusignan, attacking a traveling group of Muslims. This prompts the Muslims to send legendary warrior Saladin to attack Jerusalem, also because they want to control the city which was taken from them by the Christians a hundred years ago.

But before all that, the movie starts with our hero Balian, a young blacksmith mourning the recent death of his wife who killed herself, and according to God will go to Hell, so when a noble crusader knight named Godfrey comes claiming to be his father, wanting to take him with him Jerusalem, he goes with him to seek the forgiveness of God, so his wife can go to Heaven. Along the way, Balian perfects his swordmanship, gets knighted, makes a noble act towards a Muslim lord and makes an impression on Sibylla, sister to reigning King Baldwin, whose condition of leprous will kill him soon and so Sibylla's husband, the war thirsty Guy de Lusignan, will be king.

The acting is superb, starting with Orlando Bloom as Balian. The beard makes him looks older than he normally looks, and once again he gives a great performance, this time in his first starring role. And though he does it perfectly, I think it's time he changes styles and make a different kind of movie, a romantic comedy even. Godfrey is played by Liam Neeson who gives a great performance once again as Balian's mentor and father. He's got some very nice scenes with him. Neeson repeats himself with the same kind of character as his Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I, Gangs of New York and the upcoming Batman Begins. Still, no complain here because Neeson is perfect for these roles but he can also play the lead and carry a movie like with Kinsey where he gave an Oscar worthy performance. The first fight in the movie comes after officer's come to take Balian away for committing murder, and Godfrey and his warriors protect and fight with Balian against them. The first battle was excellent and I loved Godfrey's warriors and would've loved for the movie to be about them crusading and battling their way to Jerusalem, but sadly not all of them make it past the fight.
Then in Jerusalem, Eva Green plays Sibylla. She does a very good job though to compare her to somebody, Connie Nielsen was better in Gladiator playing a similar character. Her husband and bad guy Guy de Lusignan is played by Marton Csokas, and his right hand and violent warrior Reynald is played by Brendan Gleeson. Csokas does great work but Gleeson is kind of wasted in an very underdeveloped character. King Baldwin is played by the magnificent Edward Norton, or voiced should I say because as a result of his illness, the King wears a mask all the time and we never see his face. Finally, two of the best performances in the movie come from Ghassan Massoud as Saladin who is just a great character, and by Jeremy Irons as the King's steward Tiberias.

Despite the love story being kind of rushed and underwriten (which would be the weakest and only criticizeable aspect of the movie) and Balian's suddenly becoming a master estrategist during battles, the movie has great visuals, a very well paced story (at 145 minutes it was just right), spectacular battles and great performances. With Kingdom of Heaven, Ridley Scott gives us his third masterpiece in the last five years.