Kingdom of Heaven
Kingdom of Heaven is a 2005 drama film directed and produced by Ridley Scott and written by William Monahan. It stars Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Ghassan Massoud, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Iain Glen, Marton Csokas, Liam Neeson, Edward Norton, Michael Sheen, Velibor Topić and Alexander Siddig. Filming took place in Spain and Morocco. It received mixed reviews by critics and the public alike. It was a minor financial success.
The film is very well shot and the soundtrack is amazing the acting is mostly good. However, many of the characters are underdeveloped. And the plot is overly simple and the main character Orlando bloom seems to be pushed randomly into every situation because the plot needs him too be, without really any explanation for it story wise. Historically the film is a mess, with a tired old theme catholic bad guys who like war against humble peaceful ultra-honourable Muslims. And religion doesn’t really matter just be good etc etc vibe. The film does try to balance a little on both sides but they are token at best. It isn’t a bad movie but it is lazy and has a tired plot line. The action scenes are actually good but are few and far between. It’s a shame it really does demonise the Catholics of that time. And pushes the civilised and barbarian trope. Its worth doing research about this time in history to counteract the myths in this film.
RC