Initial thoughts about Kingdom of Heaven
Just got back from viewing KOH. I liked the movie.
I’m probably the only person in the world that hasn’t seen Gladiator. I just wasn’t interested. I guess this gives me the benefit of having that style of battle cinematography seem newish and not old hat. That seems to be a common complaint from critics; that it’s a Gladiator remake.
I will say that it took balls to have the final battle not be “victorious” for our “heroes.” The fact that I’m using quotes around those two words speaks volumes about the movie and the themes it presents. I love the fact that there aren’t clear cut heroes and villains. The fact that war is nasty for everyone comes across very clearly. I appreciate the message. However, I did think the moralizing got a bit heavy handed at times. I get it. “War is bad.” “Can’t we all just get along?”
I thought all the actors did a great job. I did get a kick out of Norton’s Brando impression. ;) A sad, depressed Orlando is not a pretty sight. Well, he is still pretty, but what I mean is that I was happy when his character started to come out of it. Depressed Balian was starting to depress me. I suppose that is the point though.
KOH was beautiful visually. The money was definitely up on the screen. The CG work blended well enough that I wasn’t sitting in the theater trying to dissect it. That says a lot. Usually CG work in these types of movies jumps out at you as if to say “Hey, look at me!”
KOH was a great movie, but having seen Sin City too I have to say that Sin City left a bigger impression on me after the movie was over. I had never seen anything like Sin City before. That’s not putting KOH down, just lifting City up.
p.s. That had to have been the shortest love scene I've seen in quite some time. What up with that?
I’m probably the only person in the world that hasn’t seen Gladiator. I just wasn’t interested. I guess this gives me the benefit of having that style of battle cinematography seem newish and not old hat. That seems to be a common complaint from critics; that it’s a Gladiator remake.
I will say that it took balls to have the final battle not be “victorious” for our “heroes.” The fact that I’m using quotes around those two words speaks volumes about the movie and the themes it presents. I love the fact that there aren’t clear cut heroes and villains. The fact that war is nasty for everyone comes across very clearly. I appreciate the message. However, I did think the moralizing got a bit heavy handed at times. I get it. “War is bad.” “Can’t we all just get along?”
I thought all the actors did a great job. I did get a kick out of Norton’s Brando impression. ;) A sad, depressed Orlando is not a pretty sight. Well, he is still pretty, but what I mean is that I was happy when his character started to come out of it. Depressed Balian was starting to depress me. I suppose that is the point though.
KOH was beautiful visually. The money was definitely up on the screen. The CG work blended well enough that I wasn’t sitting in the theater trying to dissect it. That says a lot. Usually CG work in these types of movies jumps out at you as if to say “Hey, look at me!”
KOH was a great movie, but having seen Sin City too I have to say that Sin City left a bigger impression on me after the movie was over. I had never seen anything like Sin City before. That’s not putting KOH down, just lifting City up.
p.s. That had to have been the shortest love scene I've seen in quite some time. What up with that?