Kingdom of Heaven

2005 Directed by Ridley Scott

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

After his wife dies, a blacksmith named Balian is thrust into royalty, political intrigue and bloody holy wars during the Crusades.

Orlando Bloom Eva Green Jeremy Irons Marton Csokas Brendan Gleeson Liam Neeson Edward Norton Michael Sheen Ghassan Massoud Velibor Topic Alexander Siddig Khaled El Nabawy Kevin McKidd David Thewlis Martin Hancock Nathalie Cox Giannina Facio Michael Shaeffer Ulrich Thomsen Angus Wright Philip Glenister Bronson Webb Iain Glen Bill Paterson Robert Pugh Peter Copley Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

Alternative Titles

Cruzada, Taevane kuningriik, Kingdom of Heaven Part 1, Kingdom of Heaven Part 2, To basileio ton ouranon, To vasileio ton ouranon, Kraljevstvo nebesko, 킹덤 오브 헤븐, Cruzada: El Reino de los Cielos, As Cruzadas, Regatul Cerului, Nebesko kraljevstvo, Nebesko kraljestvo, Kingdom Of Heaven Director's Cut, Kingdom Of Heaven Director's Cut Roadshow, The Crusades

drama war action adventure history

144 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★★ 3

Rousing, heartbreaking, and important, Ridley Scott's masterful "Kingdom of Heaven" soars like epics of the past while brimming with contemporary significance. Pitting men who claim to fight in the name of God against Godly men who stand for peace, the film is thrillingly assembled and grippingly told. It is a remarkable piece of work from a great director.
Taking place nearly a thousand years ago, "Kingdom of Heaven" tells the story of Orlando Bloom's disgraced Balian, a blacksmith who becomes a man of importance in Jerusalem. One on hand, the film is about an individual who rises to become something great. On the other, it is about the politics the mark the Holy Land even to this day. Balian is…
Review by Daniel Kibbe ★★★★ 3

*Watched the Director's Cut*
An incredibly striking epic, and one that could've only come from the hands of Ridley Scott. I had forgotten just how visually impressive this film is. The cinematography is absolutely gorgeous, and if there's one thing Ridley knows how to do, it's direct a battle scene. The story is level in its portrayal of sides and is engaging throughout the 3 hour runtime. All the acting is very good (probably a best from Orlando Bloom which, I guess, isn't saying a whole lot), and Edward Norton is excellent, but I do wish Jeremy Iron's character was a little more fleshed out.
Kingdom of Heaven is fantastic historical epic that's worthy of being placed among the best.
Review by AlexDavies ★★★★½ 4

“Your quality will be known among your enemies, before ever you meet them, my friend.”
A quest to Jerusalem to find your faith and also explore meaning and place. Dignity is a quality that some have, some don’t. There are extremists on both sides. A tale of motivation, nobility, and reason that pressures you too prove your worth in this world. Ridley Scott’s gaze is open-minded and observant. He can produce any location. His love for creating a setting shines here. Kingdom of Heaven is a Crusades epic bolstering the richest of historical context and purposefully situational appositeness. This circumstantiality yields great amounts of knowledge and erudition. “It is a kingdom of conscience, or nothing”.
Orlando Bloom’s silent yet affecting…
Review by matt lynch ★★★★ 4

"If God did not love you, how could you do all the things that you have done?"
this is really excellent, traditional spectacle, pretty and exciting and very self-consciously classy. Ridley never met a metaphor he wouldn't belabor or a theme he wouldn't thuddingly spell out in dialogue, but this is also so blindingly sincere in its pretentiously noble depiction of an areligious (or maybe just secular) righteousness that it transcends itself. i mean, there's literally a scene where Jeremy Irons gravely intones: "First I thought we were fighting for God, then I realized we were fighting for wealth and land. I was ashamed." cornball earnest but simultaneously so completely forthright about its depiction of the political expediency of fanaticism and its attendant economy of wasted lives that it becomes actively moving. Orlando Bloom is just awful in it.
(extended cut)
Review by Jared ★★★★ 4

An interesting epic considering the contrast between those who fight in god's name, and the others who stand for god through peace. To avoid getting overly political, it's simply a very astute work that has real relevance in modern times; crushingly sad when you consider how far we've come since the times this film takes place in. Senseless, incomprehensible religious turmoil still has a hold in that same region. Same conflict different players. It's truly sad how familiar this feels despite it taking place when the average lifespan was around 38.
Cinematically, this feels very much like a superior, more meaningful version of Gladiator. The stakes are very real, the characters well-realized, and the fight scenes are the closest I've…
Review by Scott Anderson ★★★

Is it weird that whenever I watch epic films or television shows of this ilk, I spend a decent amount of time thinking about how pathetic I would have been when faced with such circumstances?
I understand it isn't a feasible conversation because had I existed then, I wouldn't know what life is like now so I would adapt to my surroundings, but still...I complain when I have to take the garbage out. That process is literally rolling two large receptacles about 40 feet each, and the key word in there is rolling. I don't even have to lift the cans, nowadays you just kinda pull em with a small percentage of force. Regardless, I bitch about it as if…

Recent reviews

Review by 𝑀𝒶𝓇𝓀 𝐿𝓊𝓈𝒽𝓂𝒶𝓃 ★★★★

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

*Directors Cut*
From my research, and everything I read online about this film, I was advised to watch the directors cut. This version of the film is longer and was what Ridley Scott’s vision was for the film. The theatrical cut was the result of lots of studio tampering and turned out very hollow, narratively incoherent, lacking character depth and was more of a Sword and Sandals action film than anything else. The Directors Cut is more of a nuanced Historical Epic that fixes many of the originals issues. More of the Narrative makes sense as character backstories are fleshed out, the characters themselves become more complex, The Emotion, Philosophy and Religion are rescued and the film is all the…
Review by moeen ★★★★★

The Director's Cut is an outstanding epic. It's a shame this wasn't the version released theatrically.
Review by TheVANDEE ★★★

Bloom gives a stiff performance, and we barely meet Neeson’s character , but!
Production design, fight choreography, and depictions of battle are best in class. Small details really elevate this title, and make one want to learn more about the era after viewing rather than treating the film as authoritative.
Scott wants us to flip the script post 9/11 and remember a time when white Europeans were the dangerous religious fanatics threatening the Islamic world (rather, ONE of the times where that was the case). He is somewhat successful, but avoids tough questions by inserting paragons on both sides whose virtue is never in doubt.
Review by mventon ★½

Ive tried watching this 5 times in the past week and cant get 30 mins in without falling asleep so i gave up
Review by tommy ★★★★

it’s actually criminal how much better the directors cut is from the theatrical cut. might as well be two completely different movies

why does ridley scott always do this?? he is out of control
Review by DeelanB ★★★★½

*specifically the Directors Cut
Review by Behnam Mousavi ★★★½

صلاح الدین ، از فراز قبه الصخره اورشلیم را از نظر می گذرانَد . ارض موعود ، قبلگاه نخستین ، قتلگاه عیسی ، معبد سلیمان . مذهبیون چه آوردند بر این دیار در طول قرن ها
چقدر خون می خواست این خاک؟
Review by Huels ★★★★★ 1

A bunch of Christians go kill a bunch of Muslims.
Review by Fede Bootz ★½

Supuestamente el corte del director era mejor que la comercial, pero no.
Orlando Bloom podría haber sido reemplazado por una caja de zapatos y era lo mismo.