Jun 04, 2006 22:16
I never saw the theatrical release of Kingdom of Heaven, and from all I heard I'm glad I didn't. Mom watched it, and warned me off of it pretty quick. I trust her instincts on these things, since our tastes are almost identical.
Then all her friends started on about the Director's Cut that just came out, saying how great it was. Mom went with it, we bought it, and Mom and I just got done watching it -- and, well, wow. I almost (but not really) want to watch the first version now, out of a morbid sense of curiosity over how they managed to make it into a bad movie in the first place. Because, dude, the director's cut is amazing! Granted, it's so long that it merits an actual intermission, a la Lawrence of Arabia (*swoon*). But length hasn't ever really been a deterrent to me when the product is good (as it should be, IMO -- in an ideal world).
According to Mom, the entire plot with Sibylla's son was cut out of the theatrical version. My response to this being, WTF? The movie, it would not work without that plot. Trust me. I haven't seen the first version but I can tell you now that if you've seen the first and not the second, you haven't even scratched the surface of the character depth the Sibylla's-son plot provides -- not only to Sibylla, but to Balian and the relationship between the two. That whole family -- Baldwin (the leper king), Sibylla, her son -- was by far my favorite aspect of the story. And Baldwin was unquestionably my favorite character... although David Thewlis' Hospitaler comes in close second. (I swear I recognized him by the way he walked even before he spoke. Watched Dragonheart a bit growing up... just a few times... >_>)
Anyway, good movie. Never want to see the first cut, so there. And it really, really made me want to watch Lawrence of Arabia again. Am I the only one who found Omar Sharif a lot cuter than Peter O'Toole in that? And does anyone else want Prince Feisal and King Baldwin to get together and rule the world, 'cause I sure as hell would prefer them to the current asshats in office.
Just sayin'.
-rave
king baldwin,
random,
reviews,
fandom rant,
kingdom of heaven