Kingdom of Heaven/天国王朝

The movie could be a good one; it has the potential. However, unfortunately it destroys the expression of deeper connotations due to its form of war-movie, reducing the personal exploration of his own faith (see quotes below) to a superficial Crusader war against the Muslims. The commercial version of the movie cut off too many parts on faith-exploration which seem less attractive to the audience, however, these parts are really the true essence of the movie. Of course, the rest is good enough, but it is not enough to support a remarkable movie.

Years later I found my judgement was true: you should watch the director-cut version rather than commercial version; the former one was much better though it was a littler longer.


Quotes:
Balian of Ibelin: What is Jerusalem? Your holy places lie over the Jewish temple that the Romans pulled down. The Muslim places of worship lie over yours. Which is more holy? The wall? The Mosque? The Sepulchre? Who has claim? No one has claim. All have claim! We defend this city, not to protect these stones, but the people living within these walls.

本片很有可能成为一部好片，它有这个潜质，但遗憾的是，它所采取的战争片的形式却破坏了影片更深层次内涵的表达，把个人对自己信仰的探索（见上面的引用）简化成了肤浅的十字军与穆斯林的战争。商业版剪掉了完全版中太多不怎么吸引观众的关于信仰探索的部分，而这部分恰恰才是精髓所在。当然，剩下的部分还过得去，但仅就这部分而言，并不足以支撑起一部好片。

Performance impression:
Director: Ridley Scott
Stars: Liam Neeson, Orlando Bloom, Michael Sheen, Eva Green, Ghassan Massoud