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posted by [personal profile] orichalcum at 10:58pm on 22/05/2005
This is not a post about Sith. This is a post about why you should all run out and see Kingdom of Heaven, which is actually a pretty cool and fun movie and has the best cinematic realistic medieval combat I've ever seen except _maybe_ LOTR, and its mass combat sequences beat LOTR.

Non-spoiler reasons why:

1. The Combat! Especially the cavalry charges! And the trebuchets! And the boiling oil! And the morning stars!

2. All the pretty costumes and architecture and banners and, oh, just the right feel for everything. It all looks right, and authentic, and like an Islamic-esque medieval Jerusalem. A bit too deserty in other places for Israel, but in general terrific.

3. The Muslim characters, especially Salah-al-din and Alexander Siddig's (Bashir of DS9) character, who have wonderfully subtle and complex interactions with each other. Sadly, a few of these are lost on the viewer unless you really know the history well.

4. Liam Neeson, who is a knight sans peur as Godfrey of Ibelin, and manages to say incredibly trite lines with a straight and convincing face.

The Bads:

So, the dialogue was weak in some places, Orlando Bloom still possesses only 3 facial expressions (and why a blacksmith???), there's a bit too much "random famous person drops by" scenes, and in general, the acting by the main characters veered a bit too much on melodrama. The Bad Guys Are Very Baaaad, and do everything but twirl their moustaches.

But it makes Gladiator look like Troy. Please, go see this movie before it gets shut out of theaters. It deserves it.
Music:: There Is Life Outside Your Apartment-Original Broadway Cast-Avenue Q
Mood:: 'surprised' surprised
There are 5 comments on this entry. (Reply.)
 
posted by [identity profile] ahm-digest.livejournal.com at 02:22pm on 23/05/2005
I liked the movie a lot, although I'm not quite as positive as Orichalcum. There are some annoying genre conventions of the modern historical epic that I found rather annoying, and some of the writing is weak (although there are some very nice lines). But it was really surprisingly good and surprisingly nuanced, and I'm glad we saw it.
 
posted by [identity profile] havenstone.livejournal.com at 03:28pm on 23/05/2005
I always thought Gladiator was enormously overrated. It's about on par with Troy for my money. *grin*
 
posted by [identity profile] orichalcum.livejournal.com at 04:07pm on 23/05/2005
Oh, I think Gladiator's overrated too, and I'm the one who has to teach it. But all I'm saying is - this movie is much better than a movie which won Best Picture.
 
posted by [identity profile] epilimnion.livejournal.com at 03:56pm on 23/05/2005
I really enjoyed Kingdom of Heaven as well. I'm not muc of a history scholar, but I have done some reading on the Crusades. There were a few bits of anachronistic dialogue that had me cringing, but it was well worth enduring simply because the film looked good, and correct for the times, and for all the other little spot-on historical details. After all, it is a movie, not a documentary, so drama and spectacle are the priorities. I'm really hoping it's successful so that we can see more decent medieval epics.
 
posted by [identity profile] julianyap.livejournal.com at 11:01pm on 23/05/2005
Hmm... I may watch it then. My friend Kunthea hated everything about it except Edward Norton and my brother gave it the kiss of death by saying that ultimately, it was really boring. Even the fights.

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