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

[peacockharpy.livejournal.com]

I saw KoH. I think the director et al. were really trying to make a movie that said something significant about the Crusades, about how the problems set in motion during that time continue today. Despite the "pretty-boy" trappings, I feel that their effort was to make a movie about people who strongly believe in something, and in fact where those beliefs (in God of Allah, in money, in power, etc.) can lead them astray or lead them to glory. The "Kingdom of Heaven" referred to in the title is a Jerusalem where all faiths can worship, although I must cynically note that that Jerusalem is run by the Christians...

However, I think Scott failed in the attempt. And not even nobly. The story was uneven and unrealistic and felt like a first draft before the author goes through rewrites. (Plus, really unnecessary gore before we even get to the battles in the Holy Land -- then the Battle of Hattin is not even really shown. Huh?) Although the effort is to say that there are both good people and bad people on both sides of the Christian/Muslim conflict (and that the good people, by and large, are depressed to realize that they're fighting a losing battle against the fanatics who are using religion for their own ends), that mostly gets lost in the histrionics.

I differ from your opinion in that I think it would be a fabulous thing for someone to do a movie about the Crusades that truly examines the conflict from differing points of view. This movie wanted to be that movie, and tried hard (Saladin is one of the best characters) but sadly, it isn't.

[mayakda.livejournal.com]

I think a big problem was with Bloom. It was hard to believe in or identify with him; he simply couldn't carry the film.
But I think it was brave of Ridley to attempt the film; one of the points of the film is that holy wars are pointless and futile.