Kingdom Of Heaven: Director's Cut Blu-ray Disc Review

Buy This Blu-ray Disc Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!

Title: Kingdom Of Heaven: Director’s Cut

Region: A

Media: Blu-ray Disc

Genre: Period Epic

Stars: Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Marton Csokas, Alexander Siddig, and Liam Neeson

Writer: William Monahan

Director: Ridley Scott

Feature length: 194 minutes

Extras: Theatrical Trailer

Languages: English DTS 5.1 HD Master Lossless Audio Theatrical Surround Sound

Subtitles: English Captions and French and Spanish Language Subtitles

Packaging: Blue BD Case

Chapter Stops: 62

Sound: DTS 5.1 HD Master Lossless Audio Theatrical Surround Sound

Year of Theatrical Release: 2005/Blu-ray Disc Release: 2006

Theatrical Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox

Home Video Distributor: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment

MPAA Rating: R

Reviewer: Mark A. Rivera

Among the first wave of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment Blu-ray Disc releases to feature a 50GB dual layered transfer to accommodate an epic length motion picture is Ridley Scott’s Kingdom Of Heaven: Director’s Cut. The film takes place during the Crusades, right before King Richard The Lionhearted journeyed to Jerusalem, which gives the setting a quasi historical context since we know what happened in England while he was gone from the folklore of Robin Hood and Sir Walter Scott’s novel Ivanhoe. I say folklore because there is so much romanticized fantasy placed around this period that I am not entirely sure what is historically correct if anything. After his wife is denied a Christian burial because she committed suicide, a young blacksmith in France joins a crusade to the Holy Land where he finds a leprous King and the King’s sister, who fears for her son, who is to be the heir to her brother’s throne, which is coveted by a tyrannical Crusader with the support of the Templars. Jerusalem under the King’s rule is a kind of Casablanca like free port where Moslems, Christians, and Jews are supposed to be free to visit their respective religious sights of interests and are expected to conduct themselves in a peaceful manner, but the lure of power rule over the city always keeps it on the edge of war with soldiers representing Christianity and Islam both claiming the right to take the city as their own despite the fact that much of what existed in Jerusalem that would be of significance to Christians, Jews, and Moslems alike has been built over from years of turbulence in the region that continues to this day. So in a sense Jerusalem’s value is relative upon what one places upon it. For some it is worth “nothing and everything” at the same time and as events unfold, an inevitable war breaks out that culminates in a climactic siege where Orlando Bloom’s character becomes a leader who tries to protect the people within the city walls.

Ridley’s Scott’s Kingdom Of Heaven: Director’s Cut is at best a flawed epic with so many characters coming and going with various agendas that it’s hard at times to really care about the plight of the characters and let alone be concerned about them. Orlando Bloom just doesn’t carry this film well at all as the film’s main protagonist. There are times when his acting is almost laughable. He doesn’t hold a candle to some of the actors he is placed in scenes that are supposed to elicit tension and yet a kind of mutual respect, such as a scene he shares near the film’s conclusion with Syrian born actor Ghassan Massoud, who plays Saladin. The action sequences are fantastic, but the drama in between can get downright dull at times. Kingdom Of Heaven: Director’s Cut is not a terrible movie, but considering Ridley Scott’s proven talent with films running the gambit of genres, I just expect more from him when I see his association within a film.

Despite devoting a 50 gigabyte Blu-ray Disc toward presenting an MPEG-2 high definition transfer with up to 1080p video resolution available depending upon what one uses to view this disc, this BD release is a barebones home video with less features than some of Fox’s 25GB titles, not to mention most HD DVD 30GB titles available already. The film has a drab look to it especially in the early scenes that begin in France and gradually grows more colorful before becoming somewhat muted again. Overall I have no problem with the picture quality. I think it looks excellent, but I am troubled even with a widescreen 1080p capable (2.35:1) aspect ratio presentation transfer and a thunderous English DTS 5.1 HD Master Lossless Audio Theatrical Surround Soundtrack, which very few can truly appreciate given the current availability of decoding receivers, that not even a commentary from Scott was transferred over for this Blu-ray Disc release. Using 5.1 analogue composite audio output to a home theater receiver for discrete and uncompressed 5.1 channel surround sound will probably be the best way to go for users of the Samsung Blu-ray Disc Player BD-P1000 and perhaps other players now available too. English Captions for the Deaf and Hearing Impaired and French and Spanish Language Subtitles are encoded onto the disc as options along with the theatrical trailer (2:41) presented in high definition with 5.1 audio surround sound are the only other features available on this Blu-ray Disc release. The smart menu choices don’t stand out enough behind the animated main menu screen background. While one can appreciate the effort to make fancy text items that match the theme of the film, ordinary text items that are easier to read would have been appreciated.

I have found trying to find Kingdom Of Heaven: Director’s Cut on Blu-ray Disc to be elusive at best when shopping offline at local franchise and privately owned businesses so it might be a lot easier to buy directly online from retailers like Amazon. Kingdom Of Heaven: Director’s Cut is available on Blu-ray Disc now courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.

Return To The Previous Page

Buy This Blu-ray Disc Now By Clicking On The Icon Below!