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| Kingdom of Heaven (4-Disc Director's Cut) |
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List Price: $34.98
Buy New: $19.88
You Save: $15.10 (43%)
Buy New/Used from $17.67
Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 154 reviews)
Sales Rank: 178
Category: DVD
Director: Ridley Scott
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Manufacturer: 20th Century Fox
Label: 20th Century Fox
Format: Box Set, Color, Director's Cut, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD
Running Time: 191 minutes
Number Of Items: 4
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.6 x 1
UPC: 024543241454
EAN: 0024543241454
ASIN: B000EHSVQ4
Release Date: May 23, 2006
Theatrical Release Date: May 6, 2005
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
It's hard to believe Ridley Scott's handsome epic won't become the cinematic touchstone of the Crusades for years to come. Kingdom of Heaven is greater than the sum of its parts, delivering a vital, mostly engrossing tale following Balian (Orlando Bloom), a lonely French blacksmith who discovers he's a noble heir and takes his father's (Liam Neeson) place in the center of the universe circa 1184: Jerusalem. Here, grand battles and backdoor politics are key as Scott and first-time screenwriter William Monahan fashion an excellent storyline to tackle the centuries-long conflict. Two forward-thinking kings, Baldwin (Edward Norton in an uncredited yet substantial role) and Saladin (Ghassan Massoud), hold an uneasy truce between Christians (who hold the city) and Muslims while factions champ at the bit for blood. There are good and evildoers on both sides, with the Knights Templar taking the brunt of the blame; Balian plans to find his soul while protecting Baldwin and the people. The look of the film, as nearly everything is from Scott, is impressive: his CGI-infused battle scenes rival the LOTR series and, with cinematographer John Mathieson, create postcard beauty with snowy French forests and the vast desert (filmed in Morocco and Spain). An excellent supporting cast, including Jeremy Irons, Brendan Gleeson, and David Thewlis, also help make the head and heart of the film work. Many critics pointed out that Bloom doesn't have the gravitas of Russell Crowe in the lead (then again, who does?), but it's the underdeveloped character and not the actor that hurts the film and impacts its power. Balian isn't given much more to do than be sullen and give an occasional big speech, alongside his perplexing abilities for warfare tactics and his wandering moral compass (whose sole purpose seems to be to put a love scene in the movie). Note: all the major characters except Neeson's are based on fact, but many are heavily fictionalized. --Doug Thomas
On the DVD
The Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut is truly a DVD set of biblical proportions. If you are familiar with Ridley Scott's excellent, albeit massive, extended DVD sets for Gladiator and Black Hawk Down, you have a pretty good idea of what you are in for with this set. The biggest difference--unlike the Gladiator Director's Cut, which had some nice new scenes that really didn't add much to the film--is that this cut of Kingdom of Heaven is a drastic improvement over the theatrical release. This extensive 194-minute version brings the film back to Scott's original vision, maintaining an impressive balance of history, plot, and believable period reenactments and battle scenes. The best way to describe the improvements on the extended version is the film is now able to breathe a bit more, it's less choppy, and it has stronger character development. In addition to the extended scenes (which now span two discs in a clunky Road Show presentation), there is an exhaustive three-hour, six-part documentary detailing every aspect of filmmaking from the development of the "idea" through post-production and release. Also included are three feature-length commentary tracks, the best being the first with Ridley Scott, writer William Monahan, and actor Orlando Bloom. Included on the original release but missing from this set are the A&E/History Channel documentaries, the theatrical cut of the film, and "The Pilgrim's Guide," the fantastic text commentary which pointed out the historical anecdotes as the film played. Fans of the film and completists will probably want to hold onto both versions. However, those picking up Kingdom of Heaven for the first time need only to look to this definitive version. --Rob Bracco
Description
Among the best directors of our time, Ridley Scott (Gladiator), contributes generously to this extraordinary Collector?s Edition of Kingdom of Heaven. Featuring his Director?s Cut of the film and hours of fascinating extras including a six-part tour from conception to completion of filmmaking this definitive set makes what Variety called a "genuinely spectacular" film even more so!
An epic marvel that's as beautifully acted as it is visually awesome, Kingdom of Heaven stars Orlando Bloom as Balian, a Jerusalem blacksmith who has lost his family and his faith. But when his father (Liam Neeson) shows him his destiny, Balian vows to defend his country, and in the process, falls in love, becomes a formidable leader, and steps forever into history
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Customer Reviews: Read 149 more reviews...
 Kingdom of Heaven is Heavenly June 29, 2006
In short... the extended version is amazing. This extended version of Kingdom of Heaven is what should have been released in theatres. Not only is the film excellent, but the extra features are extensive and very interesting.
Director's Cut of Kingdom of Heaven June 29, 2006
Quite simply Kingdom of Heaven as a theatrical release didn't quite cut it. It was edited on studio demands to make the film more palatable for mainstream audiences, on the claims that films in the 3 hour mark were box office poison (LOTR?). Instead what was offered was a much watered down version of the film as it should have been seen. I still enjoyed it but the characterisation was slight, motive glossed over, some poor scene transitions and I was sure there were scenes shown in the trailer that wern't in the film.
Thankfully the Director's Cut clears all this up and the film is restored to the way it should have been originally seen.
Watch again the first forest battle on the way to Messina that is not just an excuse for action but has become a veiled assassination attempt. This scene has sublime editing and now means so much more.
Kingdom of Heaven is definitely Oscar worthy material at least for directing, costumes, editing, cinematography, score etc, it is therefore a great pity that the theatrical version wasnt the complete version.
Highly recommended.
even better the second time around June 27, 2006
The original cut of Kingdom of Heaven was good, but this extended edition gives a much greater insight to the characters. It is a great movie that is well worth the time and even if you have the original, you should see this version.
I won't say anything new - that's the version to get. June 25, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The director's cut of "Kingom of Heaven" solves most of the problems I had with the previous version. More than three hours long, the movie has gained "weight" that the story seemed to need. The characters are more developed and therefore much more interesting, like giving them an additional hour actually brought them back to the spotlight, while in the two hour version they seemed like, well, just some folks playing their parts between Big Battle Scenes. Balian used to be this ordinary blacksmith, who suddenly turned into a gifted strategist - here you get an explanation that is both convincing and so short, one wonders how come it was cut from the original version (the lead character was, in my opinion, it's weakest link, and when THAT doesn't work....). I'd still give the original a three and a half (it's Ridley Scott allright - the film looks gorgeous), and this one gets an additional star. Not a masterpiece, but a whole lot closer.
Wonderful Epic June 24, 2006
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
Kingdom of Heaven is a drastically under-rated film. Perhaps, politically, it came out at a bad time. Perhaps the American people (yes, I am American, but the USA is where this film seemingly did the worst) just don't care all that much about history not directly related to the United States. Who knows. But this film is simply fantastic. The scenery is gorgeous, and the entire film is incredibly well-acted. In my mind, Jeremy Irons truly stole the show, as he always tends to.
Historical inaccuracies are certainly present, but to a much lesser degree than in many other films that shall not be named. My only major gripes were threefold:
1.) The rather silliness of a practically untrained man suddenly becoming a knight of renown, defeating foes left and right and having a functional knowledge of military strategy without explanation.
2.) The Hollywood obsession with fire. I am so sick of every movie having balls of flame shooting through the air. It's ridiculous, ahistorical, and just. . . annoying. Jerusalem was not attacked with balls of fire. To make it so is painfully absurd.
3.) The entire Siege of Jerusalem. Definitely one of the best sieges in a film. Also totally Hollywood in many ways -- enough that it irks me every time I watch it. There's no way Saladin, logistically, could have attacked Jerusalem with that many trebuchets. It's simply not possible to haul them around pre-built, and building them takes time and materials. NOT ignoring simple logistic concerns like this, to my mind, would have made the film much better. (As a sidenote, horses in war do not charge for a half-mile at full gallop.)
However, overall the film was truly amazing to see, engaging, and hey - I loved it. I'd also like to take a moment to address some rather ludicrous statements by a previous reviewer who seems to accuse Ridley Scott of an anti-Catholic bias while simultaneously displaying a pro-Catholic bias in his assessment.
1.) The Christians in Kingdom of Heaven did not watch Muslim prayer "in awe of their amazing spirituality." Anyone paying attention can clearly see they are simply curious. This has historical precedent. The Christians -were- curious about the religious habits of the Muslims; finding them at once strange and familiar.
2.) The Catholic faith is not displayed as either brutish or ignorant. Prominent Catholics in the film, such as King Baldwin and Jeremy Irons are peace-loving, true men. As another reviewer pointed out - the film is told from a Christian perspective and so shows, quite well, the conflict between Christians. It shows those who were quite good, and those who were quite bad. This is historical fact. Ridley would have had to be out of his mind to ignore it.
3.) "God Wills It" (which I will point out contains no apostrophe) was a common phrase of the time to instigate battle. The Christians believed they were doing God's will. So 'God wills it' is obviously not incorrect. They would say that whenever preparing a movement against Muslims. And yes, historically they did use it as somewhat of an excuse to do great acts of evil. And the Muslims did the exact same thing, with pretty much the exact same catch phrase.
4.) Priests were not all good people. They -did- lie, cheat, and steal. One needs only crack open a history book, even one written by Christians, to find this out. Not all black people are gangbangers. Not all Christians are good people. To believe otherwise about either one is a vapid prejudice.
5.) Of course monks claim that goodness comes from defending those who cannot defend themselves. This has very little to do with Catholicism directly, and everything to do with the concept of Knighthood. Again - crack open a history book and one quickly finds that one of a knight's chief duties was the protection of the weak.
6.) And anyone who doesn't believe "Convert to Islam and Repent Later" was never said needs, again, to crack open a history book. Off-handedly, I can think of three historical figures during the Crusades who, when captured, converted to avoid disfigurement or death, and then repented when they were ransomed back.
To believe that portraying fact somehow casts a bad light on anything is absurd. Fact is fact. Bad people do bad things. Good people do good things. And sometimes good people do bad things. Hell, sometimes bad people do good things. That's history for you. But before making accusations of bias and prejudice, one should probably make an effort at learning the material, else one makes a fool of oneself.
As for Catholic traditions being largely ommitted. That's certainly true, and unfortunate. A bit more piety would have been nice to see in the film. Though the particular complaints are a bit silly. Godfrey not being sorry for one sin in his life shows that he is a good man - its cinematic. As is Baldwin's insistence that he will only confess to God; which I believe has some truth, historically -- but I don't feel like cracking open one of my biographies on him to check.
Even if it's not, however, show me proof that all Catholics observe every single doctrine of their faith. You can't. And it was no different 800 years ago.
(And yes, Saladin was a rather tolerant man, as remarked by people who actually knew him in life -- Crusaders who knew him in life, that is. Again - reading books is good for one's mind.)
All in all, fantastic movie that should absolutely not be dismissed as some Christian slam-fest by an Islam-favouring Hollywood director. Ridley may give slightly more reverence to the Islamic faith, but the reason for that is clear - current media portrays them all as psychotic terrorists - Ridley wanted to avoid that. Totally understandable, if not entirely historically accurate.
Still, I believe everyone with an interest at all in this subject matter should watch the movie, and read some books on the subject - and so decide for themselves whether the movie did or did not come close to any semblance of truth and 'rightness.' Enjoy it. And even if you don't find it accurate - enjoy it as a Hollywood film, because even if it weren't historical at all, it would still be a damned fine piece of cinema.
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Copyright Runningonkarma.com 2006
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