Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

All Critics (198) | Top Critics (39) | Fresh (78) | Rotten (117) | DVD (38)

As Balian and his people withstand the might of Saladin's fiery projectiles, siege towers and the usual computer-generated swarm of soldiers, it's hard not to think we're really watching The Lord of the Rings IV: Legolas Defends Jerusalem.

May 6, 2005 Full Review | Comments (4)

Desson Thomson

Washington Post

Top Critic

Is Orlando Bloom enough of a star to sustain a $100 million costume drama? The answer turns out to be yes.

May 6, 2005 Full Review | Comments (3)

Stephen Hunter

Washington Post

Top Critic

Since we barely know what's at stake -- we're too confused and bored to care -- all this fighting means nothing to us, and yet Scott still hopes to rev us up with it.

May 6, 2005 Full Review | Comments (8)

Stephanie Zacharek

Salon.com

Top Critic

Considerably more ambitious and significantly less satisfying than Gladiator.

May 6, 2005 Full Review | Comment

Geoff Pevere

Toronto Star

Top Critic

An epic about Christian crusaders who happen to be liberal humanists willing to die for the sake of religious tolerance. That's just ... weird.

May 6, 2005 Full Review | Comments (5)

David Edelstein

Slate

Top Critic

To say that Scott did a beautiful job directing Kingdom of Heaven would be true, but it wouldn't convey the nature of the achievement.

May 6, 2005 Full Review | Comment (1)

Mick LaSalle

San Francisco Chronicle

Top Critic

Cinema's least potent leading man, Orlando Bloom, stinks up the screen in Ridley Scott's unsatisfying "epic" about the Crusades...

June 20, 2009 Full Review | Comments (11)

Cole Smithey

ColeSmithey.com

Kingdom of Heaven: The Director's Cut is not just a 2-star movie that earned itself two more stars, but one of Ridley Scott's best, and a film that deserves its place in cinema history - even if that place could only be located on DVD.

December 23, 2008 Full Review | Comment

Todd Gilchrist

IGN Movies

Violent movie about the Crusades that isn't meant for kids.

July 24, 2008 Full Review | Comments (8)

Cynthia Fuchs

Common Sense Media

Kingdom of Heaven is profoundly relevant for our troubled times.

February 28, 2008 Full Review | Comments (2)

Brandon Fibbs

BrandonFibbs.com

The DVD features a first-ever interactive production grid that allows viewers to tailor the perspective and time-frame of making-of materials to their own specifications and areas of interest, offering 16 permutations of the film's odyssey.

December 30, 2007 Full Review | Comment

Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

There is little else to say except that this DVD set surpasses all expectations.

July 10, 2007 Full Review | Comment

Felix Gonzalez Jr.

DVD Review

... an extraordinary work of art, a plea for religious tolerance that works because of sheer filmmaking prowess and good, old-fashioned storytelling. (Director's Cut)

July 10, 2007 Full Review | Comment (1)

Felix Gonzalez Jr.

DVD Review

Kingdom of Heaven is a much stronger and more interesting epic than Troy.

April 15, 2007 Full Review | Comment (1)

James Plath

Movie Metropolis

One of the more violent films in recent memory. But maybe the violence serves a purpose-it keeps your mind off the inanities of the plot.

March 1, 2007 Full Review | Comment

Lewis Beale

Film Journal International

quick review in Greek

October 3, 2006 Full Review | Comment

Joseph Proimakis

Movies for the Masses

Kingdom inevitably invites comparisons to Gladiator, Scott's last major epic. But it is a better film, partly because it does less violence to the history.

September 25, 2006 Comment (1)

Peter T. Chattaway

Christianity Today

• 1. Sibylla: Sometimes it is better to do a lesser evil to do a greater good.
  – Submitted by Rafia A (5 months ago)
• 1. Balian: What could a king ask of a man like me?
  2. Godfrey: A better world than has ever been seen. A kingdom of conscience. A kingdom of heaven.
  – Submitted by Daniel K (5 months ago)
• 1. Balian: You go to where the men speak Italian, and then continue until they speak something else.
  – Submitted by Elliott T (6 months ago)
• 1. King Baldwin IV: A king may move a man, a father may claim a son, but that man can also move himself, and only then does that man truly begin his own game. Remember that howsoever you are played or by whom, your soul is in your keeping alone, even though those who presume to play you be kings or men of power. When you stand before God, you cannot say, 'But I was told by others to do thus,' or that virtue was not convenient at the time. This will not suffice. Remember that.
  – Submitted by Catalin G (9 months ago)
• 1. Hospitaler: I put no stock in religion. By the word religion I have seen the lunacy of fanatics of every denomination be called the will of god. I have seen too much religion in the eyes of too many murderers. Holiness is in right action, and courage on behalf of those who cannot defend themselves, and goodness. What god desires is here [points to head]
  2. Hospitaler: ...and here [points to heart]
  3. Balian: ...and what you decide to do every day, you will be a good man - or not.
  – Submitted by Catalin G (9 months ago)