Popular reviews

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  Review by matt lynch ★★★★ 3

  "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]

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  Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★★ 4

  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…

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  Review by Daniel Kibbe ★★★★ 7

  *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.

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  Review by Matt! ★★★ 17

  Oh sweet, sweet Orlando Bloom. Bless your pretty face and your apparently giant hog, because you were never meant to be an actor. 

  Kingdom of Heaven is a classic example of “I loved this movie when I was 12…maybe less so now, though”. Following a newly-knighted Bloom during the 12th century Crusades, Ridley Scott paints a desert-based epic as the Christians and the Muslims wage war over the city of Jerusalem in this impressively detail-oriented and historically accurate film. However, in typical Scott fashion, the concept of “less is more” gets tossed to the side in favor of “much more is still not enough”.

  Though undoubtedly an action spectacle, the editing during each set piece here is so choppy and…

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  Review by comrade_yui ★★★★★ 7

  one of the greatest movies of this century, the high-watermark of historical epics; makes gladiator look like a TV pilot. ridley's such a pro that all of this enormous scale and production never threatens to drown out the essential poe-faced skeptical existentialism at its heart, it's the closest he's made to a kurosawa film, two cultures portrayed with equal nuance, regrettably forced into conflict, with the hope that some shared understanding can be achieved through the integrity of one's actions; it's legitimately aristotelian, and the sincere belief in egalitarian chivalry moves me to tears. we'll never get something like this again; i'm so thankful we have the director's cut.

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  Review by Chris Cabin ★★★★ 3

  The rumors are true: the director's cut of this rips.

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  Review by Nate ★★★★ 2

  God Ridley gave us the definitive nu-medieval movie: a dusty emo gore-fest about the Iraq War, a key text for 2000's nostalgia. A sword and socks-with-sandals epic.

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  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…

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  Review by Josh Gillam ★★ 7

  Orlando Bloom stars in Ridley Scott’s epic historical fiction drama about a blacksmith who travels to Jerusalem to fight in the Crusades, with Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, Liam Neeson and Alexander Siddig in supporting roles.

  I watched the theatrical version, which is about fifty minutes shorter than the director’s cut, which means that the pacing is off, rushing through events yet still feeling slow. Presumably because of the truncation, subplots and secondary characters come and go with little explanation, making it hard to follow at times.

  Although the film is incredibly well made, and the production values are very high, it suffers from a self-seriousness that makes the story feel quite turgid and dull. There are some interesting ideas about…

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  Review by Mario 🎄❄️ ★★★★

  Just like Alexander I have seen this a few times on tv when I was a child, probably the theatrical version. This was my first time seeing the Director's cut, but I'm not able to remember much from my previous viewings, so I can't really compare the different versions.

  What I can certainly say is that this movie features one of the best casts I've ever seen. These are only the actors I recognized and knew by name without looking them up: Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Michael Sheen, Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, Eva Green, David Thewlis, Kevin McKidd, Marton Csokas, Nicola Coster-Waldner, Edward Norton and Sir Friendzone himself Iain Glen.
  The score is unbelievably beautiful. Mad respect to Harry Gregson-Williams for pulling that of.

  As much as I despise war, especially religious war, this is part of our history and should never be forgotten. Hopefully we will be able to someday learn something of it.

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  Review by Shawn Bu ★★★★½ 1

  The theatrical cut was just okay.

  The director‘s cut is a masterpiece! 

  It‘s a completely different film.
  Beautiful, compelling and still important.
  One of Ridley Scott‘s best films. Love it.

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  Review by Rafael "Parker!!" Jovine ★★★ 16

  Action!: The Scott Brothers – How To Get Screwed By Spielberg Twice W/ Ridley Scott
  DIRECTOR’S CUT

  It might have been because I should have seen the shorter version before the longer one, or because unlike "Gladiator," the movie lacked any really compelling characters you loved to root for or hate. Perhaps because, despite being good, Harry's score fell short of Zimmer's previous Oscar-winning glorious work. But for one reason or another, I couldn't adore this as many seems to do.

  This doesn't mean it's bad. In fact, during its three-hour runtime, I was never bored. A large part of its success was due to its ambitious nature, since Ridley clearly wanted to replicate the Gladiator's success, and even more,…