Awesome battle scenes but no Gladiator

Kingdom of Heaven; 2:25, R, for strong violence and epic warfare; Grade: B

I prefer to judge a movie on its own merits, but the filmmakers are begging for a comparison with the advertisements and previews that prominently brag, in big bold letters, that Kingdom of Heaven is FROM THE DIRECTOR OF GLADIATOR. Kingdom of Heaven is pretty cool, and similar to Gladiator in many ways, but it falls short of what many had hoped for.

The battle sequences are beautifully composed and sheer spectacle, putting director Ridley Scott on a very short list of directors capable of pulling off such ambitious action sets. But Kingdom of Heaven is never as exciting as Gladiator. Likewise, the music in Kingdom of Heaven is very reminiscent of that in Gladiator, and good, but not nearly as rousing.

Here’s where Kingdom of Heaven really pales in comparison: the story, while involving enough to hold your interest for two and a half hours, nevertheless keeps the audience at arms length. Unlike Gladiator, there’s never much of a reason to make any kind of emotional investment in the characters. We might enjoy watching them play with swords, but their failures and triumphs do not mean much to us. Ultimately, then, Kingdom of Heaven is a good movie. It’s just not great.

In Kingdom of Heaven, Orlando Bloom (Troy, Lord of the Rings) is Balian, a young peasant in medieval Europe, still bereaved from the loss of wife and child. When his illegitimate father (Liam Neeson), a knight from Jerusalem, tries to right his wrongs with his son, Balian is thrust into royalty and the Crusaders’ war between Christians and Muslims for control of Jerusalem.

Balian is an idealistic man of true Christian virtues. Surrounded by bloodthirsty and power-hungry bigots, Balian fights only to protect the people of Jerusalem from war (Fighting for peace? What a terrible oxymoron). Some have praised Kingdom of Heaven for its allegedly relevant political undercurrents. I saw nothing of the sort. If anything, this movie asks, “Can’t we all just get along?” Such sentiment is well-guided but naïve. But I digress. Kingdom of Heaven is about sword fights, not politics.

The one area in which Kingdom of Heaven holds up to the comparison is in the acting department. Orlando Bloom has a commanding screen presence, and he easily gains sympathy for his character. If only he had a better script to work with, and if only the terrific Liam Neeson (as his father) was given more screen time.

Epic swords-and-sandals movies like this seem to want very badly to appeal to a wide audience. Emotionally empty, Kingdom of Heaven will leave a few people wanting for more. With such awesome battle scenes, however, it should modestly satisfy all the guys who’ve memorized the “they’ll never take our FREEDOM” speech from Braveheart. For everyone in the Braveheart camp, although it isn’t a particularly great movie, I suggest seeing Kingdom of Heaven as soon as possible, as this kind of sight needs to be seen on a really big screen, with really loud speakers.