King Kong may be doomed to dissapoint. (KoH, I know, bear with me, KoH rocked!) All word of mouth on movies with known quantities, the director, the cast, is subject to their pedigree. Before the Kingdom of Heaven publicity had started for Kingdom, I was raving about it, and recommending it to my friends as one of the must see flicks of the summer. Why? Ridley Scott, Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson... a long list of names here. King Kong, is virtually LotR 4. It's not going to be a "You bow to no one." filmgasm. It's about a fuzzy that has a proble climbing buildings while being shot at by bi-planes. I can't wait, but I'm nowhere near expecting LotR. Disney HOPES, you're dissapointed in a monkey movie and were expecting LotR 4, that's why they have Chronicles of Narnia coming out a week beforehand. Not by Peter Jackson, but with the WETA and "by a friend of Tolkien" pedigrees.
What does this have to do with Kingdom of Heaven???? Simple, Kingdom of Heaven has too much going for it. It has the director of Alien, Gladiator, Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down. It's not as great or as seminal as those movies. In a way, G.I. Jane is a better flick. I had ZERO interest in that movie, and found it enticing... Okay, GI Jane, not bettter... BUT it doesn't take a Ridley Scott to drag my ass to a movie about the Crusades. They don't come around too often, YET. It's new world in geek cinema, we don't have a good gauge for these once in a lifetime flicks like KoH or HHGTTG, on how often they come around... But, Joh is no Gladiator. Don't expect it. It's really good though.
It has Orlando Bloom, as a blacksmith who leaves that life behind to defend a beauty with his sword... but this time, without Johnny Depp. Kingdom is nowhere near the popcorn perfect pitch of Pirates of the Caribbean. Don't expect it to be. It's really good though.
It has Orlando Bloom in an epic battle to defend a city from an onslaughting army, 200,000 men strong, equipped with siege towers. Those are the tall rolling buildings the orcs used in Return of the King, which had Orlando Bloom in it.... I should say something like.... yada yada yada... It's really good though. But I WON'T.
I started with King Kong. I'll end on Ella Enchanted. Ella Enchanted was a really good and comfortable family oriented fantasy with Anne Hathaway in it. Critics hated it, and audiences didn't respond. One common thread among FILM CRITICS (who should be above this pedigree issue...) was that Cary Elwes [Wesley in The Princess Bride] was in it. Since Cary Elwes was in a family friendly fantasy, it was compared to Princess Bride. No, Ella was good, but c'mon, Princess Bride was a classic, the makers of Ella were even fans of that masterpiece.
Koh is Ella. It's really good, if you can forgive it for not being as perfect as Pirates, Gladiator, and Return of the King. Most movies should be honored to be crushed to death and forgotten forever by such titans of the DVD palyer. Kingdom of Heaven can sit nicely in a collection that appreciates Master and Commander [It's not fucking Gladiator either!!!! but It's damn good movie!]
P.S..... Mr. and Mrs Smith. Added to the worth a look list. I hope the law of Gigli doesn't kill this one. I also hope it's as good as the trailer looks.
Damn, one other thing. Edward Norton doesn't just steal this movie! He does a Thomas Crowne on it!!
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