Kingdom of Heaven

And now time for your movie reveiw...

Alex and I saw Kingdom of Heaven last night. Okay, let's get the obvious out of the way. Yes, Orlando Bloom is quite yummy in this film. Much better with 20 extra pounds and dark hair in my not-so-humble opinion. And equally as yummy was Liam Neeson. But then, I'm biased.

I loved this movie. Not the bloody war parts - I kind of blur out on those. I could appreciate the military strategy. The part I loved was the religious, ethical, and political statements. This movie was able to make very bold, positive statements about the state of affairs in the Middle East, (then and now) without really taking sides on who is right - Christian, Muslim, Jewish, et al. Wonderfully written. I want a copy of the script, as there are a couple of passages that I want to be able to quote verbatim. I wanted to stand up in the theater and applaud!

There was the stereotyped priests of the time: "Murdering an Infidel isn't murder. It is the path to Heaven." Scary. Very scary. And the movie is very hard on the Templars. (I've got to do some research on the Templars. They seem to get a bad wrap these days, and I don't have any idea if they deserve it. If you have any good reference materials, please suggest in the comments.)

The actor who played King Baldwin, covered head to toe, behind a metal mask, gained my admiration. Not an easy thing to do, convey a character without use of facial movement. I had to check the credits on IMDB before going to bed. Much to my surprise - Edward Norton! Not even included in the list of major players! I have to give him kudos.

I have heard some say that the producers should have waited for Russell Crowe to be available to play the part that Orlando Bloom took. I disagree. I think Orlando did a brilliant job. He's really coming into his own! I'm not sure Russell could have pulled off the uncertainty, the self-doubt that Orlando was able to portray. Everything I've ever seen Russell in has been a role of extreme confidence in his personal abilities. I don't know that Russell could pull off Humble, and Over His Head. (And I'm willing to be proven wrong in the future.)

So, 5 stars, 2 thumbs up, (gotta get a rating systems for this site). A must see!