Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Friday, November 4th, 2005Jerusalem is easy to find. You come to where the men speak Italian, then continue until they speak something else.
When I first saw the previews of Kingdom of Heaven, having not heard of the film before that, my first reaction was, “Wow, somebody’s seen Gladiator a few too many times.” Much about the scenes in the trailer seemed like a conscious attempt to ape Ridley Scott’s sword-and-sandals epic. It wasn’t until I reached the end of the trailer that I realized this was also a Ridley Scott film.
Kingdom of Heaven does sometime look and feel like a blown-up version of the already epic 2000 Best Picture winner. Stylistic cues, setting and cinematography all seem to be carried over from the earlier film. Still, a director borrowing from himself doesn’t make this a good or a bad film.
What makes Kingdom of Heaven so disappointing is that, amongst all the spectacle and historical detail, they forgot to tell the human story of the characters. (more…)
