pothos.org

... I have to recommend to all my Pothos chums "The Kingdom of Heaven", the new Ridley Scott film about the crusades. It's astonishingly good, both historically and cinematographically.ATBMarcus

Wow. I totally disagree, both historically and as drama. Sententious, slow-witted, cliche, boring, modernizing. Again, not on-topic, but I'm amazed we'd differ so much!

Interesting, indeed!However, we must avoid discussing it on the forum ... let it be a mouth-watering hint of debate for the others! :-)ATBMarcus

I was just going to ask if anyone had seen it. The review in the Guardian says it is better than Troy and Alexander, put together. At least, it tries to address the east/west issues, which "Alexander" just didn't touch at all.It has Orlando Bloom in it. All you need to know. All I need to know, anyway.

Yes, Siskel and Ropert gave it two thumbs up. I saw some clips and it certainly looked fascinating.

Will go see it this week, for it opened here in New York on Friday. Read in an article that Orlando Bloom performed the role expertly, in comparison to the "goofy" portrayal of Colin Farrell in 'Alexander'. I went to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum in Manhattan earlier this past week, and viewed the Farrell-as-ATG wax statue. The costume was awesome, but his facial expression mocked it. Cheers,
Thalestris

that was intersting

I didn't find Colin's portrayal of Alexander the Great to be "goofy". Yes, Orlando Bloom was good in Kingdom of Heaven, but I would like to see him take a shot at playing ATG and see how he does with it. I'll bet he would be met with the same critcism, as would many other actors that would try. At least Colin gave it a try. Whether he succeeded or not is a subjective matter (obviously).KOH is a good film. The acting, sets, costumes and cinematography are very good. And yes, it was war and it is bloody. But after an hour of watching men hack each other to pieces, I really was ready to wave the white flag myself.Dara

The movie and Orlando Bloom's performance have not been well received by critics in the US. Opening box office was a meager $20 million. The US box office has been down this year, but compared to Troy's US opening box office of $46 million (and it did not do all that well in the US), this does not bode well for the film, although it did do better than Alexander.

Hi everyone,I saw KOH last night. Overall I enjoyed it, but I didn't think it was as good as many of the reviews I've seen had led me to expect. The costumes were excellent and the actors were convincing, but the plot was erratic with lots of historical errors. Although the fighting was realistic, especially the seige of Jerusalem, I did find my attention wandering because there was so much of it. Personally, I much preferred TROY and ALEXANDER.