My husband and I watched Kingdom of Heaven: Director’s Cut over the weekend. Over all, I thought it was interesting, well developed, and had incredible graphics. In fact, it was probably one of the best dvd movies I have seen this summer.

Orlando Bloom fit the lead role perfectly, and the leading lady (sorry I can’t think of her name just now) was also quite strong in her role. I believe this was the first time I had seen her on screen and, admittedly, it was nice to have someone play the part who was not a Hollywood icon. I like to see new faces with authentic accents in historically based films set in foreign lands.

At the introduction of the movie, the Director came on and talked a little about why this cut was not used in theaters. He mentioned that some thought certain parts were too long and drawn out. However, I didn’t see any of this when watching the movie. I have not seen the theater version, so I have nothing to compare it to. However, there was not a single scene in the Director’s Cut version that I felt was so long it lost my interest.

As for the graphics…Everything from the flesh and blood in fighting scenes, to the panoramic views of landscapes and scenery, to the close-ups of facial expressions was filmed with great thought and attention to detail. The pictures were thought provoking and added to the over all significance of the scene.

One thing I like about movies set in historically significant time periods is to have some sort of background information displayed at the beginning, something to “set the scene” for the part of history in which we are about to embark. That was one small thing I felt was missing from this film, although it did include a similar feature at the end. My only other complaint (and a minor one at that) is that, even though this was the Director’s Cut version, the movie had boring bonus features.

Usually buy dvd have interesting or even interactive bonus features. However, there was no filmography included for actors or staff, no “making of” (which I thought particularly unusual for a Director’s cut version), and no interviews with the actors about the film.

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