Walked out of Kingdom of Heaven

[pegkerr]

I couldn't take more than twenty minutes of it. I had mixed feelings going in. I have never worshipped at the pretty boy altar of Orlando Bloom, but I kinda wanted to see him in his new movie. I was interested in the other actors, and the idea of a collision of cultures, a struggle between two faiths. But not enough to sit through all that mayhem. Ick. I have picked up from the reviews that the "clash of faiths" may not be there anyway; someone at the heart of planning it (who? Was it the director? The producer? the screenwriter?) was an agnostic, and perhaps as a result all the major characters' actions do not spring from any well-spring of conviction that shapes their motivation.

Now that I think of it, i don't think I've ever seen any of the really big iconic R-rated war movies. I never saw Saving Private Ryan or Braveheart. Or Gladiator, for that matter, Ridley Scott's other big opus. I don't go to a war movie because I want to revel in the gore. (I NEVER go to horror movies, either). But I want to see that the characters are struggling for something they believe in.

Comments

[aome.livejournal.com]

I agree with this assessment of Gladiator, although I do think it's gory (I've turned my head away in the icky scenes); however, there's a real story in there, and worth watching.

[sienamystic.livejournal.com]

Ditto. It's gory (although that doesn't disturb me all that much), but the center of the story is all about one man and the beliefs that drive him. It's one of my favorite movies because the themes really resonate for me.