Haven't seen it yet, but I saw someone else describe it as, "Osama bin Laden's version of the crusades." And it's flopping in the box office.
Of course, my wife is in lerve with Orlando Bloom, and the hormonal... woman... is making me go see it Wednesday or Thursday.
*sigh*
Kingdom of Heaven *no spoilers* - *no spoilers*
*not really any major spoilers, I think. This movie didn't really have any major twists or turns*
Here's a few disconjunct thoughts:
1. He's a blacksmith, and 10 minutes later he's the only intelligent military strategists on the Christian side in Jerusalem. Wack.
2. Good thing that horse managed to float to shore tied up inside a chunk of shipwreck that would no way have allowed a horse to survive inside of it.
3. Good thing that blacksmith brought his superior western intellect to the middle east and taught them that if they wanted water... they'd need to dig for it. Brilliant. No desert dweller would ever think of that.
4. The French guy was a prick... that, at least, was realistic. And his name was "Gui." I THINK that's how you spell "Gee." Hard-'g.'
5. Every bad-guy in this film is Christian, and every muslim is a shining beacon of virtue and morality and victimhood. Now...
I will admit that I am not an expert on the Crusades. And, this film makes an effort to say that the Crusades had been ongoing for 100 years before the movie started, and continued for 1000 years after (so to speak). That puts the time frame of this movie at about 5 seconds of the total crusade timeframe. That being said, for this little slice of time the bad guys may have indeed all been Christians, and the Muslims were all just responding to Christian prickery. However, perhaps more could have been done to give some back story so we learn the motivations behind what's happening in the time frame of the movie. No mention is made of driving the Muslims out of Europe, which they had occupied. And there's a line that goes by so fast I almost missed it... Legolas is talking with the noble Muslim commander (who is attacking the christians ONLY because the christians raped and murdered his sister, which violated a peace treaty... of course), and Legolas is concerned for the safety of the women and children inside the city. Legolas mentioned... something about how the last time the muslims took jerusalem, the commander ordered the murder of every woman and child in the city. Noble Saladim responds with, "I am not him." Well.... ok then. Forgive and forget.
6. All of these long-time veterans of fighting wars in the middle east don't yet know that an army in the desert needs water. But the blacksmith knows this.
7. I mentioned the cgi before... my first impression upon seeing seige towers and trebuchets lined up for miles was, "Wow, they really put a lot of effort into building those devices." Then it occured to me that it must be cgi... and it looked really good. Best yet, IMO.
8. At one point, it occured to me, "It's a good thing they used a veteran of Helm's Deep to operate the defense of this city. He knows all the tricks." And at one point, they damn near recreated one of Orlando Bloom's exciting moments from Helm's Deep, almost exactly. I was surprised at it.
Final conclusion........... it wasn't as painful a movie as I had expected. There was as much bias against christians in KoH as their was against the english in Braveheart and The Patriot, and for the purposes of those stories I found that to be acceptable. There are truly some noble christian leaders in the movie, they just had corruption in the ranks. Seems realistic to me. The "every muslim is noble and honorable" thing is a bit of a stretch, though. They certainly spent enough time focusing on the christian pricks that surely there should have been time for showing a few muslim pricks... but it didn't happen. This tells me the story is a bit slanted against western civilization... and this is a bad time for that when there are lives on the line.
In my opinion.
See it if you will. I've always liked period pieces, and this certainly qualifies (more or less. The language is quite modern, alas). Anyone reading this review will have an open enough mind to question it as it comes, so it's all good.
Here's a few disconjunct thoughts:
1. He's a blacksmith, and 10 minutes later he's the only intelligent military strategists on the Christian side in Jerusalem. Wack.
2. Good thing that horse managed to float to shore tied up inside a chunk of shipwreck that would no way have allowed a horse to survive inside of it.
3. Good thing that blacksmith brought his superior western intellect to the middle east and taught them that if they wanted water... they'd need to dig for it. Brilliant. No desert dweller would ever think of that.
4. The French guy was a prick... that, at least, was realistic. And his name was "Gui." I THINK that's how you spell "Gee." Hard-'g.'
5. Every bad-guy in this film is Christian, and every muslim is a shining beacon of virtue and morality and victimhood. Now...
I will admit that I am not an expert on the Crusades. And, this film makes an effort to say that the Crusades had been ongoing for 100 years before the movie started, and continued for 1000 years after (so to speak). That puts the time frame of this movie at about 5 seconds of the total crusade timeframe. That being said, for this little slice of time the bad guys may have indeed all been Christians, and the Muslims were all just responding to Christian prickery. However, perhaps more could have been done to give some back story so we learn the motivations behind what's happening in the time frame of the movie. No mention is made of driving the Muslims out of Europe, which they had occupied. And there's a line that goes by so fast I almost missed it... Legolas is talking with the noble Muslim commander (who is attacking the christians ONLY because the christians raped and murdered his sister, which violated a peace treaty... of course), and Legolas is concerned for the safety of the women and children inside the city. Legolas mentioned... something about how the last time the muslims took jerusalem, the commander ordered the murder of every woman and child in the city. Noble Saladim responds with, "I am not him." Well.... ok then. Forgive and forget.
6. All of these long-time veterans of fighting wars in the middle east don't yet know that an army in the desert needs water. But the blacksmith knows this.
7. I mentioned the cgi before... my first impression upon seeing seige towers and trebuchets lined up for miles was, "Wow, they really put a lot of effort into building those devices." Then it occured to me that it must be cgi... and it looked really good. Best yet, IMO.
8. At one point, it occured to me, "It's a good thing they used a veteran of Helm's Deep to operate the defense of this city. He knows all the tricks." And at one point, they damn near recreated one of Orlando Bloom's exciting moments from Helm's Deep, almost exactly. I was surprised at it.
Final conclusion........... it wasn't as painful a movie as I had expected. There was as much bias against christians in KoH as their was against the english in Braveheart and The Patriot, and for the purposes of those stories I found that to be acceptable. There are truly some noble christian leaders in the movie, they just had corruption in the ranks. Seems realistic to me. The "every muslim is noble and honorable" thing is a bit of a stretch, though. They certainly spent enough time focusing on the christian pricks that surely there should have been time for showing a few muslim pricks... but it didn't happen. This tells me the story is a bit slanted against western civilization... and this is a bad time for that when there are lives on the line.
In my opinion.
See it if you will. I've always liked period pieces, and this certainly qualifies (more or less. The language is quite modern, alas). Anyone reading this review will have an open enough mind to question it as it comes, so it's all good.
"Be bold, and mighty forces will come to your aid."
I watched the DC on this and it was very long, but much better. The siege was great, even if the rest of the story was a bit illogical.
I think at this point any character Legolas plays is assumed to be a military ace. Didn't he go from humble Blacksmith to BAMF(as much as is possible for him) in Pirates, too?
Edited By Troy on 1334157045
I think at this point any character Legolas plays is assumed to be a military ace. Didn't he go from humble Blacksmith to BAMF(as much as is possible for him) in Pirates, too?
Edited By Troy on 1334157045
This thread did not make me want to watch this film.
If I wanted someone to tell me how evil I am just because I'm white, a man, not Muslim, etc. I'd watch the news.
If I wanted someone to tell me how evil I am just because I'm white, a man, not Muslim, etc. I'd watch the news.
“Activism is a way for useless people to feel important, even if the consequences of their activism are counterproductive for those they claim to be helping and damaging to the fabric of society as a whole.” - Dr Thomas Sowell