The main criticism of "Kingdom of Heaven" lies in the angle and depth of the story chosen by the director, as well as the poor performance of the actors. In fact, if you only look at "Kingdom of Heaven" from the perspective of a costume war movie, the design and shooting of this movie's war scenes are remarkable. However, the problem lies in the theme and launch timing of the film, which makes the audience hold higher and deeper expectations, and the failure of expectations naturally leads to the failure of the box office and word of mouth. The film was released in 2005, the year at the end of George W. Bush's first presidency and a time when people reviewed and evaluated Bush's counter-terrorism strategy. The most important international issue in the post-9/11 era is the counterattack of Islamic countries against the Western world. Although "Kingdom of Heaven" is a costume film, its theme is the holy city of Jerusalem between the 2nd and 3rd Christian Crusades. Since the 200-year crusades can be said to be the beginning of the seeds of hatred planted in Christian and Islamic countries, audiences were looking forward to seeing how the director guides everyone on the film before its launch. Reflecting on the current tense situation can even allow both parties to the conflict to gain mutual understanding in their minds.
Just like "Black Hawk Down", Ridley also avoided any controversial issues in "Kingdom of Heaven", choosing a business angle to please the public, and trying his best to describe how a young man transformed from a blacksmith to a leader who led the people to confrontation The hero of the Islamic army's attack, and how to transcend the shackles of religion and love with his noble character. After his wife committed suicide, the young Belion killed his immoral brother in anger. In order to redeem the souls of himself and his wife, he followed his biological father who suddenly appeared to go to Jerusalem. When he arrived in Jerusalem, Bellion's morality and courage not only won him the trust of the king, but also won the favor of the king's sister. The young king, suffering from leprosy, tried to persuade Bellion to marry his sister to inherit the throne before he died, but Bellion categorically rejected the king after learning that the current consort would be executed if he agreed. requirements. Love and power cannot lose Bellion's conscience. As a result, the new king was ignorant and evil, and took the initiative to provoke a war with the Islamic king Saladin, and was eventually annihilated by the entire army. Saladin brought a large number of troops to the outside of Jerusalem, while Belion led the people in the city who had not received military training to resist stubbornly. With courage and wisdom, Saladin was convinced and agreed to let Saladin do no harm without harming anyone. Everyone in the city was evacuated. During the 1st Crusade, after the Christians captured Jerusalem occupied by the Muslims, they carried out brutal and bloody massacres on the people in the city. This peace agreement is not only due to Saladin's mercy, but also to Pei. Leon's bravery. So Bellion took everyone back to the West, and Bellion even escaped into an incognito life with the king's sister, completely abandoning his reputation in the world.
As far as Ridley's angle is concerned, the actor's image and performance are still a major flaw. Orlando Bloom, who plays Bellion, is bookish and completely unable to hold up the momentum of a war hero, which is very different from Russell Crowe's stern and tough image in "Gladiator". Eva Green, who plays the king's sister, has a sharp outline, and at first glance, she thought she was a mixed-race beauty from the Middle East, and her image in the film swayed between sluts and grudges, making people bored and confused. Regarding the characters' weak character and the mediocre performance of the actors, Ridley believed that the problem was due to improper editing techniques, so he launched a director's version 50 minutes longer than the theatrical version. It is true that the director's version has more explanations for the inner changes of the characters, but the degree of improvement is only a little bit better. After all, strategic mistakes are very difficult to correct with tactics. When Ridley chose to promote the heroism of Bellion, it was destined that this movie with a grand and sad theme would be difficult to resonate with the audience emotionally. The above two modern heroines and heroines, as well as the single-faced character descriptions, completely cover up the fidelity and grandeur of the war scenes in the film. After all, in the film length of more than three hours, the war scenes only account for a few minutes. . Also, disappointing is the soundtrack. "Kingdom of Heaven" once again follows the soundtrack style of "Gladiator" and "Black Hawk Down", using the tragic and heroic music dominated by double bass in the war scene, as well as the sobbing vocal crooning, matched with slow The fight and death screen played by the camera. I don't know when Ridley will get tired of these old-time sensational tactics.
The overall tone of "Kingdom of Heaven" is actually very similar to "Gladiator". They are both heroes without power desires. Because of the good fortune of the times, they were pushed to the stage of history. Both of them faced the grief of losing their wives. , have also been recognized and entrusted by the king, and even won the favor of the first woman in the kingdom. Both heroes also refused to inherit power and love because of moral reasons, but forced by the actions of the new king, they had to lead the masses to resist and shoulder the responsibility of defending the country and defending the orphans and widows. There is also a similar result. After a victory, the two heroes either die or go, with no attachment to the power, status and fame that comes with them. However, the overall level of "Kingdom of Heaven" is much worse than that of "Gladiator". The storyline of "Gladiator" is relatively simple, with fewer characters and scenes. The director completely focused on Russell Crowe in the film. And put a considerable proportion of the content on the arena, so a work with ups and downs and character depth has been brewed. Relatively speaking, "Kingdom of Heaven" focuses on the historical events that have occurred, and performs the events of the Eastern Expedition one by one like a scene, and the purpose is to show the scenes built with huge expenditure of money. , thus gaining breadth but losing depth.
Originally founded by Jews, Jerusalem was occupied by the Christian Roman Empire and ruled by the rise of Islam after the 7th century. This is a holy place that the three major religions regard as their spiritual sustenance, and it is also the main source of several major military conflicts for thousands of years. It should not be difficult to make a movie with the sadness of this holy place as the theme, but "Kingdom of Heaven" deliberately avoided this angle and chose to copy the successful elements of "Gladiator". At the end of the film, when the Christians happily withdraw from Jerusalem, glad that they could save their lives, the historical and religious significance of Jerusalem is completely erased, and the millennia of suffering this land has endured is meaningless and absurd.
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