Kingdom of Heaven

The Crusades has always been a tricky and elusive subject for filmmakers. Sure, it's a fascinating story. It's got the potential for epic spectacle and grandeur but there's that pesky religious angle that could potentially offend people and thereby rendering it box-office poison.

This is the very reason people are waiting with bated breath for veteran director Ridley Scott's tackling of this rather risky (especially at this day and age of violent tensions among religious groups in certain parts of the world) subject matter. After having had three straight critical and/or commercial successes early this millennium with Gladiator, Hannibal, Black Hawk Down and Matchstick Men many people are left wondering whether he can still continue his winning streak with this latest in the long line of historical epics.

Kingdom of Heaven tells the mostly true story of Balian of Ibelin (Orlando Bloom) a recently widowed blacksmith who after murdering a priest (Michael Sheen) out of rage, joins his alleged biological father Godfrey (Liam Neeson) and a renegade priest Hospitaler (David Thewlis) on his journey to Jerusalem to fight for King Baldwin, the Leper King (Edward Norton, his performance hidden behind a mask and his name hidden in the end credits). After Godfrey dies while protecting him from an attack, he arrives at Jerusalem and experiences a series of spectacular action sequences and a love scene just like any historical hero of his day.

Few will deny Ridley Scott is a gifted visual artist so it comes to no surprise that the action sequences and fight scenes in this film are indeed visually engaging and are spectacles to behold. From the snowy blue-tinged attack on Godfrey to the nighttime fireball siege by the Moslems up until the climactic battle sequences that look like Lord of the Rings without the orcs, Ridley Scott never fails to deliver the goods. He has since perfected what I like to call "gory gloss" (or "glossy gore) since no one can make blood shed and splatter in such a stylish way quite like Sir Ridley. Other technical aspects of the film are top-notch.

If only the surface spectacles and gloss would match the substance to be found underneath. Truth be told, there isn't much. This could have been a thought-provoking, cautionary tale on the value of religious tolerance and understanding or an allegory on the current real-life turmoil going on in that part of the world right now. Though there are ample attempts in the film to address these issues, they all come off as superficial at best laughable at worst.

Efforts to keep this film historically accurate without offending any members of the major religions involved are admirable but at times, I felt, comes at the expense of not addressing with the issues more head on. They are after all, mere distractions to all the cool fight sequences.

As for the actors, Orlando Bloom may have been a wonderful supporting Elf in Lord of the Rings but as a leading man, he is merely adequate. Though he is not that bad, his performance lacks the gravitas and charisma Russell Crowe brought to a somewhat similar role in Gladiator. His performance in that Ridley Scott flick actually elevated his material. Eva Green does what she could with a character that is just a little more than a token love interest role. The rest of the stellar supporting cast is superb but too bad most of them appear only sporadically.

All in all, the film does not do that bad a job of entertaining you throughout its two and a half hour running time. Surely, people who love the glossy gore coupled with sword and sandal action will get their fix on this film. Those looking for something a little more will have to go look somewhere else. It is not anti-Muslim. It is not anti-Christian. The film is too busy with staging actions to be anti-of anything.