Kingdom of heaven - yet again

[Corvus]

I just finished watching Kingdom of Heaven....yet again and find that I seem to get a little more out of it each time. Definitely one of Ridley's great works.

Gotta admire the attention to detail in the costume department 


Jack

[Sir James A]

As long as you can get past it not being a documentary and not trying to teach history, it's a great movie.

I have no problem taking it at face value for entertainment.

[Ian]

I have no problem taking it at face value for entertainment.

Only if it's the director's cut

[Sir William]

I have no problem taking it at face value for entertainment.

Only if it's the director's cut

Agreed; the movie makes a lot more sense from the DC.

[Sir Nate]

I have no problem taking it at face value for entertainment.

Only if it's the director's cut

Agreed; the movie makes a lot more sense from the DC.

Yep

[Aiden of Oreland]

I have no problem taking it at face value for entertainment.

Only if it's the director's cut

Agreed; the movie makes a lot more sense from the DC.

Yep

I too agree. But I also think the costume department did an excellent job with the Teutonic Knights

[Sir Dimitry]

Remember tho' that Scott and his Design Dept did not use contemporary art or extant examples of costume and armour for the basis of the look of the movie. Like Gladiator, he used Victorian paintings as their jump point for nearly all of their designs. (the extra 2 discs of the DC are very informative)

[Sir Michael]

I personally love watching the directors cut, the costumes, swords and the action really sucks me in.  Now I know that with anything coming out of hollyweird you have to take a lot of historical accuracy with a huge grain of salt, but it does fuel my love for that era.

[Sir_Edward_ReBrook]

It's amazing to me how much better the director's cut is than the theatrical release. It's almost a completely different movie. For instance, Orlando Bloom's character is a bastard blacksmith and nothing more before becoming Baron of Ibilin (sp?) in the theatrical release, yet somehow he leads a defense in depth of a city and is, in general, an outstanding knight. Makes no sense at all. But in the director's cut, we learn that he had been in numerous wars "fighting for one war against another." All in all, the DC was just a far more coherent film. The only thing that irks me is the negative treatment of Templars and the giant crosses on the center of their chests as opposed to over their hearts, but maybe I'm wrong about that.

[Sir Dimitry]

Remember historically the Templars were eventually excommunicated and hunted down and executed for crimes against Holy Mother Church and God...

The Templars here are the "bad Christians" while the Hospitallers (sp) are the "good Christians". That is much better told in the DC..

[Sir Edward]

As with any cross section of society, I suspect there were both good and bad examples to be found amongst the Templars. I too was bothered by the portrayal, especially since they diverged from history a little bit on it, but also painted the Templars in a particularly bad light in the movie.

Something to remember though, is that although the Templars were persecuted and disbanded over charges of heresy, historians have known for quite some time that this looked like trumped up charges, largely driven by financial and political circumstances... and then the Chinon Parchment was discovered recently.

[Sir Nate]

As with any cross section of society, I suspect there were both good and bad examples to be found amongst the Templars. I too was bothered by the portrayal, especially since they diverged from history a little bit on it, but also painted the Templars in a particularly bad light in the movie.

Something to remember though, is that although the Templars were persecuted and disbanded over charges of heresy, historians have known for quite some time that this looked like trumped up charges, largely driven by financial and political circumstances... and then the Chinon Parchment was discovered recently.

So, according to the chinon paper. The pope actually tried helping the Templar from Phillips political agenda, proving more that they were not guilty?

[Sir Edward]

Yes, basically. The leaders of the Templar Order were absolved, and the Pope made a failed attempt to restore the Order. But the damage was done.

[Sir Wolf]

hi, i'm odo. uggggggggggggggggggggggggg (dead) lovely character development. lol