I believe that it was a grievous error on the part of Fox to release the trimmed down piece of crap Scott vignette that was the theatrical Kingdom of Heaven. It just wasn't a film, it was a bunch of battle scenes with some interesting but surface level philosophizing. The director's cut, adds depth, gravity and wisdom to the film as a whole, completing all the character arcs and creating a whole, more real temporal world. Balian is no longer a bizarre and cold character who turns into a leader, and Sybilla is no longer a sex-starved Queen of Jerusalem. Every character has layer upon layer of intention to drive their action now, and Sybilla's character I now believe is probably one of the more interesting characters in the story, given her arc with Balian, Guy, and her son who was not previously in the film at all. The thing that really upsets me though is that this is, unlike the LOTR directors cut, not filled with fluff for genre fans. This is an actual film, the film that should have been released but wasn't. Don't Studio executives know by now to trust Ridley Scott? Haven't they already botched and blundered most of his projects and haven't the director's cuts been viewed as masterpieces? The huge amount of film that was cut from the theatrical version that is present here was completely necessary to make a real experience for the audience. I'm am so deeply sad for Scott and so enraged at Fox, Warners, Universal, for never having faith in this talented genius artist. Please, if you can, watch the director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven, it was the film we were meant to see.
Review of Kingdom of Heaven
