Kingdom of Heaven

[Mark]

Kingdom of Heaven

Will the battles be better than in Alexander or Troy ?

 

[Banshee16]

Well, a few early words are that it's surprisingly good, and Ridley Scott didn't mess up..

Note that these two articles may contain spoilers.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0320661/board/nest/18324037

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14931-1570727_1,00.html

Hopefully these (p)reviews hold up.

Banshee

 

[Dark Jezter]

I'm hoping it's gonna be good. Although I do admit that I'm getting really tired of Orlando Bloom; he's beginning to replace Ben Affleck at the top of my "Overexposed Actors whose 15 minutes can't get over soon enough" list.

 

[Allanon]

Will the battles be better than in Alexander or Troy ?

Forget them being better than Alexander or Troy those can hardly be called benchmarks in epic movie battles. I want them to be on par or better than those in Lord of the Rings

The trailers are showing a lot of promise and combined with the previews it looks like a nice early summer blockbuster.

 

[Mark]

Judging by the "Kingdom of Heaven: HBO First Look" special, it'll rival LotR (perhaps, dare I say it, surpass?) in many ways.

The CG stuff looks amazing. As good as that was for the LotR films, once you see a troll, oliphant, or nazgul, or even an orc, it does jar you out of the pseudo-reality. The bits of the seige of Jerusalem they showed in the special were incredibly impressive.

They made period equipment (armor, weapons, etc.), so they say, for about 2,500 people. Of course, for this (as opposed to LotR) they had a real period on which to base their equipment. Same holds true for the seige weapons.

They, apparently, set a new record for the most people set on fire for a single stunt (56 people).

I've got to say that I felt the LotR films set a standard for movies similar to this (epic battles, fantastical, whether fictional or true, stories, etc.) that I thought would not be topped or even met in my lifetime. Movies such as Arthur, Troy, and Alexander had me believing that would be true. It seemed no matter what combination of cast, crew, director, producer, effects department, etc. that was brought together, such magic would not be available in significant quantity to even come close. It looks to me like Kingdom of Heaven is going to prove me wrong.

 

[Klaus]

You forgot to quote your self, Mark!

 

[Krafus]

Will the battles be better than in Alexander or Troy ?

That's not setting the bar high... I'll compare the battles of Kingdom of Heaven to those of LotR - like you, I feel the battles in those movies set the benchmark.

 

[Banshee16]

That's not setting the bar high... I'll compare the battles of Kingdom of Heaven to those of LotR - like you, I feel the battles in those movies set the benchmark.

Well, the review I read said the battles were as thorough and well-done as those in Black Hawk Down, and that this was definitely a war movie.

What that entails, I'm not sure. Same level of gore? Seriousness? Special effects?

Ridley Scott has done some awesome work, and I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on this one. The trailer looks pretty impressive already, so I'm hoping it's reflective of the movie itself. I don't know if anyone's done a movie about the Crusades before, so it'll be interested to see.

Banshee

 

[Sir Osis of Liver]

Forget them being better than Alexander or Troy those can hardly be called benchmarks in epic movie battles. I want them to be on par or better than those in Lord of the Rings

I'm thinking the Chronicles of Narnia will pull that off nicely, at least based on what i've seen so far.

 

[Mark]

You forgot to quote your self, Mark!

Did I?

That's not setting the bar high... I'll compare the battles of Kingdom of Heaven to those of LotR - like you, I feel the battles in those movies set the benchmark.

Keeping my fingers crossed...

I don't know if anyone's done a movie about the Crusades before, so it'll be interested to see.

I found information on only three of note, IMO -

The Crusades (1935) (blockbuster)

King Richard and the Crusaders (1954) (blockbuster)

Naser Salah el Dine, El (1963) (blockbuster)

Not surprisingly, all have taken some liberties with the facts to craft a story deemed worthy of the silver screen, as the reviews listed above note that Scott has done, as well. I've seen the first two of the three I've listed, years ago, and they can surely be considered some of the largest "spectacles" of their times, though the (second) Butler film was not well-received). I've looked into the availability of the third and have discovered it is highly respected. It might be fun to get ahold of all three as a Crusadathon Weekend follow up to Kingdom.