10 Years Later...KOH Revisited (A Review)
Being a medieval history buff, I enthusiastically watched this film when it came out in 2005 and was disappointed, mostly because I didn't like how the story was re-written, and Orlando Bloom's acting. I remember the Director's Cut being a tremendous improvement.
10 years later (I gave the DC a viewing last night) and my opinion has become somewhat worse. Orlando Bloom's acting is barely watchable. There is nothing believable about his acting. The problem with Bloom is you can tell he's acting, ALL the time. He infuses too much drama in his voice and presence, almost as if he is more geared to do Shakespearean broadway plays as opposed to major feature films. Orlando Bloom was also an awful choice for the lead role. Why they would choose a guy who barely looks 23 to be the main lead in a film where the main character is suppose to be a wise military leader is beyond my comprehension.
A lot of Bloom's important dialogue in the film comes off as preachy, sort of like an overzealous university student trying to sell you marxist ideology. It felt cringey to my ears after all these years, especially his important speeches. In fact, I'd hate to say it, but his dialogue in many scenes was downright laughable. I have a feeling people will mock this film in years to come because of Bloom's cringey delivery of his lines.
Another fault of the film would be the subtle political correctness that pervades throughout. Anyone who has studied the actual history of the Crusades will probably detect this.
The over-arching message: "Muslims are peaceful and just want the invading crusaders to go home". The Templars are just fundamentalist war mongers too!
Of course all of this totally ignores the actual facts and politics of the Crusades. If Ridley was trying to infuse modern politics into the story, then he also failed at that, miserably.
Also, the whole Balian redemption story seemed ridiculous as well.
10 years ago I remember liking Edward Norton's character (King Baldwin), but after last night's viewing I was left not caring for him either. The face mask and his presence seemed overly grandiose, and his performance, though good, didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the film.
David Thewlis and the guy who plays Saladin did fantastic jobs.
The cinematography, sets, and atmosphere were fantastic, top-knotch in fact!
That makes this film all the more depressing. It had such potential, to be one of the best historical films of all time, but was hampered by a faulty script and a laughably bad lead performance.
I'd give this a solid 6.0, simply for the beautiful images we see on screen and the great costumes and sets, and great performances by a few of the characters.
I mostly have to agree with the critic reviews though, there were too many glaring mistakes in this film.