5. Kingdom Of Heaven (2005)
I went to see this at the cinema in 2005 and was massively disappointed. It reinforced the notion that Ridley Scott's powers to enchant were waning after the sumptuously riproaring Gladiator. This was an action movie with not much action. Fairly early on there's a skirmish in a snow flecked forest which looks fantastic, but the movie never hits those heights of excitement again. It features an underwhelming central performance from Orlando Bloom as Balian, who transforms himself from humble blacksmith to Crusader hero. His cheekbones, as always, look fabulous, but he seems way out of his depth, his meagre skills too slight to shoulder the burden of a major movie featuring top-notch actors like Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson and Edward Norton. About 18 months later whilst shopping in ASDA I saw a 4-Disc Special Edition Extended Director's Cut box set of Kingdom Of Heaven on sale for £4 (!). Always seeking out a bargain, I purchased it. When I got home I drew the curtains and popped in disc 1 eager to find out what the hell had happened to make the original such a limp and insipid effort. What had happened, boys and girls, was 20th Century Fox had attempted to wring an action movie out of a considered analysis of religious conflict. This was never meant to be an action movie, instead it is a brilliantly observed exploration of the historical and political attitudes of Empire and religious tolerance as Christians battle Muslims for control of Jerusalem. This movie offers an objective, political examination of the origins of the difficulties in the middle east and suggests that Muslims, despite what the screeching mainstream media in the West might state, are actually human. It bravely helps make sense of the ongoing disputes in the middle east. With the film studio's sister company, Fox News, being a cheerleader for the illegal war in Iraq the intentions of the film were always going to be fudged. Orlando Bloom's uncertainty suddenly comes into a sharp focus against this much broader canvas. Unlike all the other protagonists, his character Balian isn't fundamentally religious, but is merely trying to find something which helps him make sense of his life and the deaths of his wife and child. Ghassan Massoud as Saladin gives a quietly authoritative performance which is totally captivating and steals the movie completely. I was completely taken aback by the experience and, revisiting this movie recently, I'm convinced that this may well be the best work in Ridley Scott's catalogue.