Kingdom of Heaven **1/2
Cast: Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons, Eva Green, Brendan Gleeson, Edward Norton, Ghassan Massoud, Marton Csokas, Alexander Siddig, David Thewlis
Director: Ridley Scott
Running Length: 2:25
MPAA Classification: R

In 1184, Balian (Bloom) is mourning the death of his wife. One day Baron Godfrey of Ibelin (Neeson) shows up to tell Bailen that he is his father. Bailen reluctantly agrees to accompany him to Jerusalem to gain forgiveness for his sins and for his wife's sins (she had committed suicide). On the way, Godfrey is mortally injured. He knights Bailen and gives him the title of Baron before he dies.

He arrives in Jerusalem as a friend of King Baldwin IV (Norton) and Tiberias (Irons), but in Guy de Lusignan (Csokas), he finds an enemy. Outside the city, Saladin (Massoud), the Arab leader is amassing an army to take Jersulam back from the Christians.

One thing "Kingdom of Heaven" does well is portray both sides evenly. Niether the Christians nor the Arabs are perfect. The audience can sympathize with both sides. Unfortunately, this leads one to not really favor one side over the other. The Arabs are not being outrageous when they finally do attack, and one could argue that the Christians had it coming. The Christians are just defending themselves, and the acts of the few are causing this war. The film is objective with regards to the two sides, but that takes away from some of the emotion that otherwise could have been developed.

Orlando Bloom is nothing special as the leading man. Riding his "Lord of the Rings" action hero status into this film, it is quickly obvious that he was a supporting figure in those better movies. The rest of the cast is fairly unremarkable, except for Edward Norton, who provides an uncredited performance as the leper king of Jerusalem.

The film is beautifully shot, and while longer in running time, does not feel long. "Kingdom of Heaven" was being looked to to revive the grand epics that suppered with "Troy" and "Alexander". It probably won't help the cause, as the first weekend's gross indicated.