Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

Balian of Ibelin travels to Jerusalem during the Crusades of the 12th century, and there he finds himself as the defender of the city and its people.

Director:

Ridley Scott

Writer:

William Monahan

Stars:

Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Liam Neeson

5 wins & 14 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Martin Hancock	...	Gravedigger
Michael Sheen	...	Priest
Nathalie Cox	...	Balian's Wife
Eriq Ebouaney	...	Firuz
Jouko Ahola	...	Odo
David Thewlis	...	Hospitaler
Liam Neeson	...	Godfrey de Ibelin
Philip Glenister	...	Squire
Orlando Bloom	...	Balian de Ibelin
Bronson Webb	...	Apprentice
Kevin McKidd	...	English Sergeant
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau	...	Village Sheriff
Steven Robertson	...	Angelic Priest
Marton Csokas	...	Guy de Lusignan
Alexander Siddig	...	Imad

Storyline

It is the time of the Crusades during the Middle Ages - the world shaping 200-year collision between Europe and the East. A blacksmith named Balian has lost his family and nearly his faith. The religious wars raging in the far-off Holy Land seem remote to him, yet he is pulled into that immense drama. Amid the pageantry and intrigues of medieval Jerusalem he falls in love, grows into a leader, and ultimately uses all his courage and skill to defend the city against staggering odds. Destiny comes seeking Balian in the form of a great knight, Godfrey of Ibelin, a Crusader briefly home to France from fighting in the East. Revealing himself as Balian's father, Godfrey shows him the true meaning of knighthood and takes him on a journey across continents to the fabled Holy City. In Jerusalem at that moment--between the Second and Third Crusades--a fragile peace prevails, through the efforts of its enlightened Christian king, Baldwin IV, aided by his advisor Tiberias, and the military ...

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Plot Keywords:

crusader | 12th century | jerusalem | templar | knights templar | 

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Taglines:

Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Safeguard the helpless, and do no wrong

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Drama | History | War

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong violence and epic warfare

Details

Country:

USA UK Spain Germany Morocco

Language:

English Arabic Latin Italian

Release Date:

6 May 2005 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Crusades

Filming Locations:

Morocco

Box Office

Budget:

$130,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$3,793,166 (Spain), 6 May 2005

Opening Weekend USA:

$19,635,996, 8 May 2005, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$47,398,413

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$211,652,051

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox,Scott Free Productions,BK

Technical Specs

Runtime:

144 min 190 min (director's cut) 194 min (director's cut roadshow)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital (Dolby Digital 5.1) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1) DTS (DTS HD Master Audio 5.1) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1) D-Cinema 48kHz 5.1 (D-Cinema prints) (5.1 Surround Sound) (5.1)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Orlando Bloom was cast for this movie the day after he finished shooting Troy (2004) .

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Goofs

During the second day of the siege, Balian watches several Saracen soldiers put their flag upon one of the towers; Balian is seen taking a weapon from a nearby archer, if you look closely that weapon is a war hammer. In the next shot, Balian is seen slashing a Saracen with an arrow.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Gravedigger: Crusaders.
Squire: Clear the road, if you will.

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Crazy Credits

The opening 20th Century Fox logo has a ocher-yellow tint added to it.

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Alternate Versions

The Director's Cut on Blu-ray Disc (released November 14, 2006) runs 190 minutes as the overture and intermission have been excluded. The Ultimate Edition Blu-ray released in 2014 includes both the 190-minute and 194-minute versions, the latter as the "Director's Cut Roadshow Version".

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Connections

Referenced in Kingdom of Heaven: Press Junket Walkthrough (2006)

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Soundtracks

Nunc Gaudeant Materna
Performed by Women's Voices of Sequentia
(directors cut only)

User Reviews

excellent, fair to islam, sweeping, narrative could have used tightening...

I really enjoyed this movie. The way the movie started in Europe and how dark it was there... and the journey to Jerusalem... just wonderful stuff up to that point.

Liam Neeson, as usual, is just SO GOOD, you wish he had more screen time.

• Orlando Bloom, actually surprisingly, was able to carry the movie as a lead. I was surprised he had the heft to do it, but I agree with the critic who said that the beard helped. He was a man, not a boy.

• Battle scenes... incredible. I was really surprised that they could wow me, since we've been numbed by the quality of battle scenes in so many previous movies, but they did a great job.

• Portrayal of the Muslims. EXTREMELY fair. In being "even-handed" to Christians and Muslims there, if anything, they emphasized the Christian fanatics (in the form of the Templars in particular, to simplify things) as being the "badguys" more than anyone else... (which is historically accurate to some degree, in my understanding). I was surprised and pleased that they tried to be accurate, and didn't try to emphasize some "BAD MUSLIMS" to make it "even".

• Movie is very secular in it's moralizing.

And it portrays Christianity particularly religious men, VERY badly (the Priest who steals the cross from Bloom's wife's corpse... the Bishop in Jerusalem who's ready to convert to Islam at the first sign of defeat... and who also wants to abandon the civilians... the knights templar...) I thought this got a tad gratuitous. There were really NO GOOD Christian FIGURES IN THE MOVIE. The only good purported Christians were basically acting Agnostic (Bloom, Neeson, etc.) The actual religious Christians were made out to be hypocrites.

Meanwhile Saladhudin was a man of honor.. but also somewhat moderate.

• Movie could definitely have a little more narrative focus and maybe have a little more of an emotional circle for Orlando Bloom character. The emotional arc is ALREADY complete fairly early in the movie (Bloom becomes a man of conscience)... and it's kind of boring since the character doesn't really move after that.

But the movie tackled a HUGE topic and tackled it fairly well. I just wish there was a better script to handle the compelling personal journey for Orlando Bloom (from widower, murderer seeking redemption, lost bastard son) that was PROMISED at the beginning.

It seems that as soon as he brings water to his father's old land, he's just about done his journey, and it turns into a simple historical battle movie. (but a darn good one)