10 Director's Cuts That Seriously Improve Movies

Ridley Scott rarely makes a bad movie. And when it comes to historical dramas not many do it better.

Kingdom of Heaven follows the physical and emotional journey of Balian (Orlando Bloom), a young man who flees France for the Holy Land in search of salvation. The film wrestles with notions of ideological indoctrination, the dichotomy of seeking peace through war, and the struggle between one's own morals and the perceived word of God.

But the version originally released to the public wasn't one of Scott's best works. It felt like a period-action blockbuster attempting to tackle big ideas in an overtly unsubtle way. And there's good reason for that. Scott, who often finds himself wrestling with studios about the length of his films, was forced to cut a whole 45-minutes of content. Sadly it was all the stuff that added weight and depth to the themes being tackled.

Significant moments of character development were removed, resulting in characters coming to seemingly enlightened revelations without much explanations. Scott's Director's Cut does much to remedy these issues. Characters like Sibyllia (Eve Green) become far more nuanced, with an extended sub-plot involving her leprous son, and the morally ambiguous choices she makes while wrestling with grief.

Even Orlando Bloom's character had his backstory expanded for the better. Although it wasn't enough to remedy his wet performance it was nevertheless a vast improvement.