The Good

A well made film that doesn't put its message in your face... through it is there.

The Bad

Why in the world would release of this nature contain no Bonus Features?

Kingdom of Heaven is an epic tale that showcases amazing cinematography with really solid acting. Orlando Bloom plays Balian, a humble blacksmith who is going through a very tough time since his wife and child died. After returning from the East, the legendary Godfrey of Ibelin (Liam Neeson) meets with Balian and informs him that he is his father. Ibelin then asks Balian to go with him to Jerusalem and help defend it. This is the time of the Crusades but the city isn't at war. However, nothing this fragile can stay and in power grabs on both sides the warring begins again. Ibelin decides to fight behind King Baldwin IV (Edward Norton) and Balian goes along with him. What ensues are some of the most epic and scenic shots committed to film in recent memory.

What makes Kingdom of Heaven work is the fact that it is layered with strong actors from top to bottom. Add to this that every scene seems to be steeped in the rich cinematic style that Ridley Scott is known for, and you have a great movie to be ported over to Blu-ray disc. While I think that at times there might too much going on for it's own good, I think even casual fans of cinema would have a hard time denying the power of Kingdom of Heaven.

Features

No Extras came with this release.

Video

2.35:1 - 1080p HD. The look of this film is what makes it on Blu-ray disc. I can only imagine what the cost of making this film was but it seems like they recreated another country on screen. There's a lot of the grayish/blue colors in this movie and at times, for some of the nighttime shots, I had to wonder if Ridley Scott pulled a Kubrick and used fire to light the scenes. In addition to this it seems like a lot of the desert shots were lit in such a way to bring out every nuance of their color. There is so much going on in this movie as far as it's look, I am half thinking they should give away this disc when people purchase a Blu-ray player.

Audio

DTS HD 5.1 uncompressed. I knew that this movie was going to have strong sound. This film is epic in every way. The score has a way of making the images on screen seem bigger, but Ridley Scott has mapped things out so that they all work together to produce an equally strong experience across the board. There is a fullness to this DVD that seemed to create very strong audio across all the speakers, yet at times it seemed like something different was slightly happening in each one.

Package

The front cover of this release features a shot of men on horseback with the grayish/blue color tones that I mentioned above. The back cover shows off some more of the splendor of this film, it gives us a well written description of Kingdom of Heaven, a credits list and system specs.

Final Word

Kingdom of Heaven is going to go down as one of the most underappreciated epics to ever be lensed. Like Blade Runner before it, this seems to be another Ridley Scott film that wasn't appreciated in its time.

Why would this be the case?

Well, I will admit that I didn't see this movie when it played theatrically. At the same time, I don't really go for those epics where everyone's brandishing swords, riding horses and just generally engaging in "Middle East" mischief. Yet, there is something about these films, especially Kingdom of Heaven that really manages to grab you. I think that there is a strength to so much of this film that it's a shame that people (myself very much included), didn't seem to give this film its rightful attention.

As a Blu-ray release Kingdom of Heaven is a no brainer. It is made for the big screen experience and that's precisely why it seems to translate so well to the next generation one.

Kingdom Of Heaven was released May 3, 2005.