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Kingdom of Heaven starring Orlando Bloom and Eva Green

Posted on March 5, 2010 Written by ripitup

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Kingdom of Heaven- Orlando Bloom
Kingdom of Heaven- Orlando Bloom. Photo via lightscamerahistory.files.wordpress.com

1184. Blacksmith Balian (Orlando Bloom)  is not a happy man. He has recently lost his kid, and his wife has committed suicide, not being able to bear the death of their child. Moreover he has to listen to the town’s priest (Michael Sheen), who goes on and on about how his wife is in hell. But his life completely changes when he meets his father for the first time. The absent father is Lord of Ibelin (Liam Neeson), and he is there to take Balian with him. At first Balian is unwilling but circumstances force him to go. From then on, he learns a lot from his father. He will also need to prepare himself to take his father’s place. He now doesn’t even have the time to grieve- he has to be a knight, a worthy lord, deal with Prince Guy (Marton Csokas) who absolutely despises him, travel to Jerusalem…

Kingdom of Heaven
Kingdom of Heaven. As glorious as an epic should be. Written by William Monahan. Directed by Ridley Scott. Photo: images.allmoviephoto.com

Balian’s journey is exciting and never dull for a second. In Jerusalem, he easily makes friends with the Marshall Tiberias (Jeremy Irons) and earns the trust of King Baldwin (Edward Norton). He also intrigues and attracts, Sibylla  (Eva Green)-  The King’s sister- who also happens to be Guy’s wife. Not to mention, Guy is thirsty for blood and is dying to fight the Muslims- much against the will of the King.

Kingdom of Heaven- a battle scene
I love a good old battle scene. Well, what did you expect? My favorite movie ever is an epic war flick, Braveheart. Photo: film.com.tr

This movie is a really good example on how an epic should be. It has all the complications and the amazing battle scenes. It has the peace-loving villager-turned lord-who doesn’t let go of his virtues, even though it might cost him dearly. Orlando Bloom fits Balian perfectly and the rest of the cast is simply brilliant.

Fun Stuff:

Liam Neeson only appears in the first 25 minutes or so.

Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson in Kingdom of Heaven
Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson in Kingdom of Heaven. Father and son bonding moment. Cool for Bloom. Those sword-fighting lessons from Pirates of The Caribbean must have come in handy. Photo: hecinemasource.co

King Baldwin has leprosy. So you never see Edward Norton’s face. But it is fun to have him nevertheless.

Edward Norton in Kingdom of Heaven
Edward Norton in Kingdom of Heaven. Yep, this is how Edward Norton looks throughout all his scenes. For all we know, he could have recorded his voice. Just kidding. It is always nice to have him in a movie. Even when you don’t see him.Photo: cinecultist.com

The (only) leading female is Sibylla, played by the gorgeous Eva Green.

Eva Green in Kingdom of Heaven
Trust me, this picture doesn’t do her justice at all. She is simply radiantly beautiful in this cool epic from 2005. Photo: http://www.atoww.com

There is also Dr. Owen Hunt (Kevin McKidd) from Grey’s Anatomy, plays one of Liam Neeson’s soldiers.

Kevin McKidd from Grey's Anatomy
Yes, I admit I went back to watching Grey’s Anatomy after Kevin’s Owen livened up the show. I was pissed off that they had gotten rid of Jeffrey Dean Morgan’s character for the second time. But finally there is another passionate and fun gPuy. Photo: img5.allocine.fr

Brendan Gleeson plays exactly looks like his character in Braveheart– where he played Hamish, Wallace’s best mate. Although here, he is pretty much the bad guy.

Brendan Gleeson, Braveheart
This is Brendan in Braveheart. One of the good guys.
Brendan Gleeson in Kingdom of Heaven
Brendan Gleeson in Kingdom of Heaven. Apart from 10 year gap between the films, he is instantly recognizable and reminded me of Hamish. Here, he does a great job as a mean bastard. Photo: filmdope.com

Reasons to see Kingdom of Heaven:

–          You mean apart from Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons, Edward Norton, Orlando Bloom and Eva Green?

–          Director is Ridley Scott- who also directed Gladiator, Body of Lies, American Gangster, White Squall and Thelma and Luis.

–          Good script, good acting, wonderful direction and pretty cool battle scenes.

–          If you are not convinced yet, I am giving up.

Cons:

–          I didn’t see any, but you might be bothered by the stuff that is not historically accurate.

–          Why have Edward Norton play a character with leprosy in the first place? But being the cool and interesting guy that he is, it was Edward who specifically requested that role. Let’s keep fingers crossed that he does star in an epic one day, with his face showing…

–          If you do hate Orlando Bloom and think he can’t act, obviously you will get annoyed watching him for 144 minutes. Or for 190 minutes in Director’s Cut.

Orlando Bloom in Kingdom of Heaven
Yep, a lot of Orlando Bloom. He is pretty good, though. He carries his role with grace and innonce. Photo: wallpaperbase.com

My biases: Love the whole cast and I am a big fan of Ridley Scott. White Squall (starring Jeff Bridges) is one of my favorite movies ever and I am yet to dislike anything Ridley worked on.

IMDB verdict: 7.1

My verdict: 7.8- 8.0

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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: action, adventure, Brendan Gleeson, Edward Norton, Eva Green, history, Jeremy Irons, Kevin McKidd, Kingdom of Heaven, Liam Neeson, Marton Csokas, Michael Sheen, movies, Orlando Bloom, Ridley Scott

Attila starring Gerard Butler

Posted on October 31, 2009 Written by ripitup

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Gerard Butler plays Attila
Gerard Butler plays Attila

I was actually shocked to find out it was a TV movie. It is a wonderful epic: the cinematography, setting, acting, music… They are all wonderful; with  Powers Boothe’ s performance as Flavius Aetius and Gerard Butler‘s as Attila overshadowing the rest as a little, both playing the most charismatic roles as the antagonist and protagonist of the story:

Hun legends tell that a great king would be born and he would rule the world. When Attila was a kid, his family was murdered by the invading forces. He was raised under the wing of his uncle, Rua- King of Huns. He was trained not only to fight well, but to be knowledgeable about the art of fighting as well. As he grew up, he became the greatest fighter of all, with the town witch Galen as his friend and his cousin Bleda as his adversary. Yet according to Galen’s visions Attila would be the big ruler- he is the one the myths were written about. He only had to be patient.

Meanwhile in Rome, the greatest general Flavius Aetius is imprisoned for conspiracy against the queen. However, Attila’s amazing victories on the battlefields give the queen no choice but to set Flavius free, since he is the only strategist that can find a solution to stop Attila and her son Ceasar is useless. So Flavius gets his rank back and as a first thing, he uses his former friendship with Rua. He decides to trick them into battling against Visigoths with the Romans. However Attila sees right through his tricks. This really impresses Flavius and he wants Attila under his command, with Rua’s permission. After all, Bleda has betrayed Attila the worst way. Having realized that Attila is smitten by the red-haired warrior woman N’Kara, one of the war slaves- Bleda takes her as his personal spoilt from the battle. Flavius teaches Attila that war isn’t just about bravery and stamina, but also about “pretexts” and politics. The two men form an alliance that is based on mutual respect and admiration, though Attila is never fooled by a second that sooner or later. He knows one of them will be tempted to or forced to kill the other one.

Flavius plans are considered risky by the queen. Instead of killing Attila, he seems to have made friends with him, and instead of trying to kill him, he is keeping Attila in Rome as his guest. And just like he anticipated, Attila is fascinated by the culture and lifestyle and is taking his time there, until an event back home forces him to come back and claim his position as King…

You may think I am telling too much, but with its duration of 177 minutes, this is by no means a short film and I have only told some parts of the story before Attila becomes King. There’s much plotting and back story I left out, so no worries.

THE ROMANCEs  &   THE HEROes

Gerard Butler with Kirsty Mitchell

 

Gerard Butler and Simmone MacKinnon.

 


It is mostly historically accurate. Of course the target audience is the English-speaking audience so the film is completely in English, and a Scotsman (Butler) playing Attila and an American (Boothe) playing Flavius. The rest of the cast is also pretty international. And of course we have the “witch” factor, and a very romantic story on Attila’s part to challenge the actual historical events. This romantic story has huge impact on the story but of course the romance adds a great deal to Attila’s humanity. And of course, romance is an undeniable element in any epic movie. I guess we will never know if the real William Wallace had such a strong love for his wife, as it was depicted in Mel Gibson‘s Braveheart (1995). And Wolfgang Peterson’s  Troy (2004) actually includes three love stories: One that starts everything: Paris’ s (played by Orlando Bloom) love for Helen (Diane Kruger), the one that shows us Hector’s (Eric Bana) character -his love for his wife and family and also the one that romanticizes Achilles (Brad Pitt) – this affair with Briseis (Rose Bryne). But despite the romantic elements, all these movies are not all about romances. They are epic dramas and they have brilliant war action scenes. They include war strategies and perfect battlefield strategies. They inlcude politics, relationships and a huge effort on everyone who’s involved in the film making. Of course, the hero will be portrayed by a masculine actor who is going to be versatile enough to show the conflicting and complicated emotions of their heroic characters. Just like Wallace was successfully portrayed by Gibson and the roles of Achilles was taken on by Brad Pitt. In fact the movies two other leads, Orlando Bloom and Eric Bana are both considered good-looking by a lot of women.  It always helps help if the hero has a raw attractiveness that draws all women to them- and the objects of his desires are going to be beautiful.  Diane Kruger’s Helen was glamorous; just like as the red head that stole Attila’s heart, Simmone MacKinnon was a good choice. Attractive and talented casting comes with the territory with epic movies. These movies aim and tend to impress and entertain. And the good ones manage to do just that.

Attila, for me, is the single epic movie that I enjoyed just as much as Braveheart. I think it is even more enjoyable than Troy, which I quite liked. However Braveheart tells a more tragic and intense story and it is about fighting for freedom and not just for more land. Therefore it is sadder and more powerful. But strictly speaking of entertainment, Attila is a glorious must- see that was surprisingly made for TV. It probably would do well at the box office.

P.S. The actor playing Bleda (Tommy Flanagan) is also Scottish and he has a small, but important role in Braveheart.

Other Gerard Butler Posts:

Gamer

Law Abiding Citizen

5 Reasons to Love Gerard Butler

Gerard Butler Hosts Saturday Night Live

Timeline

Dear Frankie

P.S. I love you

Beowulf and Grendel

The Ugly Truth

Nim’s Island

Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life

Please!

 


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Filed Under: Movies and Actors Tagged With: Attila, Brad Pitt, Braveheart, Diane Kruger, Eric Bana, Gerard Butler, Kirsty Mitchell, Mel Gibson, Orlando Bloom, Powers Boothe

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