In the two-hour-long film, there is one battle after another, and these battles are mixed together. Except for the shabby and old clothes and long and dirty hair, the audience should not expect to get anything else in the movie.
"The Kings of the Heavens" was well shot. Ridley Scott's method of describing personal hero perspectives is still sophisticated, the actors' performances have also contributed a lot, and the plot and dialogue design are also profound. In the film, the confrontation between the Crusaders and Muslims in Jerusalem, the three-day and three-night legion battle scene is magnificent, and the love story of the hero and the heroine can be seen. Why the film has not achieved the ideal box office and reputation? To put it simply, there are too many films of this type in recent years. I can’t wait to take out all the output of a few years. Epic films are somewhat similar to war films, compared with the majestic and majestic "Lord of the Rings" and "Saving Soldiers". The truth is cruel, and the scene has no idea of breaking through, and the degree of shocking the soul is naturally greatly reduced.
The greatest strengths and greatest weaknesses of epic films are undoubtedly revealed in "The Kingdom of Heaven". The advantage is that it has spectacular scenes, and this visual attraction can often cross national borders and cultural barriers; the disadvantage is that the spectacular scenes often conflict with the development of drama, because the drama usually comes from the conflict of the characters’ personalities, and the scenes These factors will be concealed, just like the contradiction between trees and forests. A single "tree" is the driving force behind the drama, but the "forest" is very bold and has a selling point. "Seeing the tree and the forest" is not impossible, but the difficulty will be higher.
"The Kingdom of Heaven" was born with a golden key, but it failed to achieve the spring and autumn hegemony. After the film was released, word-of-mouth and box office were smashed, and Ridley Scott was also disgraced. In fact, Ridley Scott put a lot of energy into this film, and the backstage crew and cast are unambiguous. The reason is the length of the film. The story of "Heavenly Kings" is larger than "Gladiator", and the theater version of "Gladiator" is 2 hours and 35 minutes, while "Heavenly Kings" only has 2 hours and 25 minutes. The original 3 hours and 14 minutes edited by Ridley Scott is rich in details and fast-paced. Because of the unprecedented success of the previous "Gladiator", there is no need for much publicity this time, so 20th Century Fox can more directly pursue the number of screenings. After cutting the film wildly, only the bare main storyline is left, and the whole movie appears long and boring.
