After watching the theater version of "Kings of Heaven", the feeling was plain: it was called an epic, but it was not excited at all; the stars were gathered, but the face was blurred. The characters are pale and lacking in persuasiveness. Not to mention the handsome and beautiful starring, even the old drama bones such as Jeremy Irons and Liam Neeson are not glorious. It seems that only Edward Norton's performance with a mask from beginning to end still gives an impression.
After reading the director's cut version, I found that these problems shouldn't exist. The 50 minutes cut was almost deadly.
The performance of the heroine Eva Green was almost completely murdered. When I watched the theater version, I was surprised, how could such a big vase rank second in the cast? Think about how glamorous she was when she played "The Dreamer". In this costume movie, her modern face seems out of place. The whole role of existence seems to be the contradictory relationship between several characters. By the way, she has a relationship with Orlando Bloom. When talking about love, they talked so secretly that they didn't even show off their posture.
After reading the extended version, I realized that one of the main lines of fate supporting the character of Sibela has been completely cut off. It turned out that she had a son who was the heir to the kingdom, but after succeeding to the throne, she discovered that the child was a leper like his uncle. Sibela couldn't bear her son repeating her brother's tragic fate, so she ended her child's life, which also caused the kingdom to fall into the hands of her husband. After watching the extended version, I finally understood why the film had to lift the mask of the dead king and show the intention of the face that I could not bear to witness. Her brother's leprosy was Sibela's nightmare, and this psychological shadow seriously affected her choice of fate. Such an important emotional line, because of the ruthless editing in the theater version, is almost imperceptible, and the only female character in the play collapsed.
The protagonist Orlando Bloom may be slightly better than Eva, he was half murdered, but half the most fundamental. The character of Li Barian in the theater version is very tall and abrupt, and I have never understood that he was a blacksmith from the beginning. How could he become a leader of majestic talents after he inherited the title? And it feels like Orlando has nothing to play, always being silent is golden, just having a cool face from start to finish.
In the extended version, Barian's background, experience, and psychology are more fully displayed. Barrian was not a blacksmith, but a skilled craftsman who had served in the army (it is estimated that he must be regarded as a senior engineer). And the pain of his bereavement, religious torture and shameless priest and brother's bullying are also shown in the extended version, so that the characters are padded and full, and the subsequent development no longer feels abrupt. And some details behind also make this character more believable.
It can be seen that Orlando has worked very hard, although not all are so good, but the overall shaping is still successful. It's a pity that Orlando's efforts for this role are almost obliterated in the theater version. Orlando, who had a dream start to his film career because of "Lord of the Rings", was not lucky enough afterwards. Especially after watching this extended version, I felt that he inexplicably missed the chance to win some good reviews. It's not that he didn't do it. , But everything he did clicked off.
Of course I think the most unfortunate person should be the director Ridley Scott. The theater version that was released was a victim of inadequate flesh and blood, and the weakness of the backbone made the glorious war scenes seem dull. It is impossible for him to want to come here.
Scott really wanted to make "The Kingdom of Heaven" an epic, and it was an epic in the traditional sense. The extended version started with a shady Overtrue for more than a minute, and halfway through it was a shady Intermission for several minutes-this is something I only encountered when watching movies like "Benxu" and "Doctor Zhivago" Things. In such an era, does watching an epic movie also have the elegance of an opera? I think even if "The Kingdom of Heaven" is finally released in theaters with this director's cut version, its box office fate may not be much better. In this era of watching movies with corn, this kind of lengthy and less intense The epic film seems a bit out of date.
"The Kings of Heaven" theatrical version is far from a bad movie, it's just that Fengshen's dissatisfaction is flat.
The extended version of "Heavenly Kings" is certainly not a top-notch work, but the vibe is still there.
Watching two movies together may be more valuable: you can witness how a movie was murdered!
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