Kingdom of Heaven… Long and Interesting
May 8, 2005 by iamdoods
Two things about this movie, I have no previous knowledge of the Crusades and that I am a big fan of movies that discusses religion. Kingdom of Heaven is a movie about the First Crusade with Balian, a blacksmith, who is the hero in the movie. It is unlike the ordinary epic that in the end the war was won with the help of the hero. Although the movie is long at 2-plus hours, it didn’t bore me maybe because of the interest that I had.
Orlando Bloom (Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Carribean) stars as Balian, who was knighted by his estranged father before his death became the leader of a batch of soldiers that defends the king of Jerusalem from the attacks of the Muslim renegades who are wanting to gain back their control over the Holy Land. Orlando plays the sames blacksmith to hero from Pirates but on this one, his role takes on a dramatic journey. He plays a blacksmith, who has a wife who commited suicide with their child, he decided to join his father to Jerusalem to atone the sin his wife. He became a knight and defended the Kingdom. Orlando showed a lot of sadness and strength, he is not the guy I’ve seen in Pirates, he is different in this movie.
Liam Neeson, a favorite of mine, plays an adviser to the hero in this movie, which he will again do in Batman Begins. And I think he is being stereotyped. I might say he is great as the estranged father of Balian, who tried to get acquianted with his long lost son. I am still looking forward on seing him in Kinsey.
The movie is delivering a message that history repeat itself, even in the Holy Land, the war is inevitable however and whatever our leaders try to prevent it.
