Review of Kingdom Of Heaven: 4 Disc Director`s Cut

Introduction

France, 1184. Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson), a knight from the crusades returns to his hometown from Jerusalem in search of Balian, his illegitimate son. He finds Balian (Orlando Bloom) wracked with grief having lost his child and his wife who, in her depression, committed suicide. After initially rejecting Godfrey`s offer to accompany him back to the Holy Land, Balian, having killed the local priest in a fit of rage and now a fugitive, flees to join Godfrey and his men to Jerusalem hoping to atone for his sins and those of his wife.

When Godfrey dies from injuries suffered in an ambush, Balian, having been knighted, takes his place as the Baron of Ibelin and is thrust into the political machinations surrounding the uneasy truce held between the Christian army of Jerusalem and Saladin`s Saracen army.

Released in 2005 as a 145 minute predominately action orientated film to mixed reviews, Ridley Scott and his team at `Scott Free` have restored Kingdom of Heaven to the film which Scott had originally envisaged.

Video

Presented in 2.35:1 and in a `roadshow` format over two discs with an overture, intermission and entr`acte, this has more in common with historical epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, Gone With the Wind and Spartacus than most modern `sword and sandals` films. The video is flawless and the CGI elements blend in perfectly with the live action footage; this is as good a transfer as I have ever seen.

There are English, Spanish and French subtitles.

Audio

There is a choice of DD 5.1 and DTS soundtracks, both of which are beautiful to listen to. They are as precise as you could hope for and every aspect of the soundtrack is clear: Harry Gregson-Williams` superb score sounds fantastic, battle scenes have amazing clarity and the dialogue is crisp, even during the chaos of the siege of Jerusalem.

Features

Where to start? For a start there are three full length audio commentaries, all of which are interesting, well delivered and rarely replicate one another.
The first commentary has Ridley Scott, writer William Monahan and Orlando Bloom giving their respective insights into the film. It has been edited together from separate recording sessions so although there is no interaction, there is no dead air or redundant comment.
The second commentary is compiled the same as the first and features executive producer Lisa Ellzey, visual effects supervisor Wesley Sewell and first assistant director Adam Somner; all involved have interesting things to say and Somner is a similar speaker to Ridley Scott - he means what he says and doesn`t mince his words.
The final commentary is a solo effort by editor Dody Dorn, who speaks well for the entire length of the film without completely engaging the viewer.

In addition to the commentaries, there is `The Enginer`s Guide` trivia track which supplements the audio commentaries well with some interesting facts from the production together with some more contemporary information.

Discs 3 and 4 contain an exhaustive amount of supplementary features, the bulk of which is in the feature length 6-part `Road to Redemption` documentary which covers everything from the historical origins to shooting the film and its theatrical release. In addition, there are numerous other supplementary features including deleted and extended scenes (with commentaries), trailers, TV spots and, for the first time in a Ridley Scott film, filmed cast rehearsals where the principal actors run through the script with each other and Scott.

Unfortunately, none of the extra features (including the commentaries) are subtitled.

In terms of the quality and quantity of the extra features, only the 4-disc Lord of the Rings DVDs can compete with this excellent set.

Conclusion

I wasn`t overawed by the theatrical release of Kingdom of Heaven, the narrative seemed fractured and the character arc of Balian, from peasant blacksmith to 12th century Sun Tzu without much explanation, left me cold. This version, now 194 minutes long, seems to be a completely different film with more emphasis on the religious and political tensions, far more (as Ridley Scott puts it) `organic character development` including a whole new story which fleshes out the character of Sibylla and an expanded opening which fully explains Balian`s growth as a person. Furthermore, there is a great deal more violence in this cut of the film such as beheadings that were omitted from the theatrical version because of the kidnappings taking place in Iraq at the time.

Aside from the improvements over the theatrical version, it`s perhaps worth noting that Scott`s direction is masterful with CGI use that stands alongside the visual effects in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the score by Harry Gregson-Williams is outstanding, fine actors such as Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson and Liam Neeson do not disappoint and Orlando Bloom puts in the best performance of his career.

Forget the 145 minute version you saw at the cinema or have seen on DVD, this is the definitive version of Kingdom of Heaven, the one that Ridley Scott intended you to see and a film that must now be considered amongst his greatest works.

Addendum.
Having re-watched this, it is painfully obvious that Orlando Bloom has the acting range of a flat-pack wardrobe and simply cannot cope with the demands of playing the lead in a film of this nature. Surrounding him with actors like Liam Neeson, David Thewlis and Jeremy Irons underscores the limitations of his acting and far from portraying a man in emotional turmoil, having lost his wife and murdered his brother, he looks like someone who is upset that the barman has forgotten to put olives in his martini. This is a real shame as with a talented actor in the lead, this film could have been so much more and, as such, I have marked the film down from it`s original 10 to an 8.