Kingdom Of Heaven
(20th Century Fox)

This is a big-ass Ridley Scott production with sweeping sets, scores upon scores of extras, brilliant costumes and plenty of historical context. Set during the Crusades, Orlando Bloom plays Balian, a French blacksmith mourning his wife’s very recent suicide. He is visited by Baron Godfrey Of Ibelin (Liam Neeson), who reveals himself as the young man’s father. Balian joins his father’s posse in their quest to reach Jerusalem, but the group is attacked while in the woods and the Baron is badly wounded. Prior to shuffling off his mortal coil, Neeson passes on his status to Bloom, who eventually reaches the holy city and gets caught up in conflicts between one army led by good guy Tiberias (Jeremy Irons) and the other by Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas), the evil king and leader of the Templars. As a means of repenting for past sins, Balian decides to live a life of honor, which on the one hand is very admirable and pure and all that, but in reality, makes for complications that spark the beginning of war with the Arabs who also claim Jerusalem as their home. There are some major battles with the Saracens over control of the city that are almost Lord Of The Rings-like in their scope and expanse, not to mention the large, flaming boulders. The cinematography is gorgeous and Scott spares no expense in making sure every detail is attended to. Performances are spot-on, so it’s a mystery as to why it didn’t do better at the box office first time around. An abundance of extra goodies fill the second disc, including featurettes recorded for A&E and the History Channel and production notes that can be accessed while watching the film. As historical epics go, this was a good way to spend 144 minutes.--David Bassin