[IrishEyes]

New movie out in the States on DVD today - "Kingdom of Heaven". It's not a religious movie, but it had some religion in it.

If you've seen it, tell me what you think.

The social and historical implications were really quite interesting. I'd like to start a discussion on them, but I want to find out if anyone else has seen this movie first.

Btw - I totally enjoyed it, and will buy it first thing in the morning.

[Mercenaryend]

Yea , that movie really did kick @ss. im like a crusader expert dude (geek u could say)
but i had never thought of the idea where the balistas shoot into the seige towers and use counter weights to pull them over, i thought that was like the coolest part.
in some places it was completly unrealistic , but it gave a enjoyable action filled adventure.

[IrishEyes]

Originally Posted by Mercenaryend

in some places it was completly unrealistic , but it gave a enjoyable action filled adventure.

Where did you find it most unrealistic?
Historically, they took some liberties, but actually, it was fairly accurate as far as the major characters (Kings and such). Nice twist at the end, with Richard showing up.

I described it to my husband as 'part Gladiator, part Robin Hood, and quite a bit of Knight's Tale, but without the Queen'. Do you think that was an accurate description? He hasn't seen it yet, but asked if I thought thre Crusades were accuartely depicted, or if it was just another "Christians going to save the Holy Land from the awful Muslims crap that seems so popular". I actually thought it handled the issue in a very fair way, not showing the Christians as the "good" and Muslims as the "bad", but showing both as struggling to do what they felt was right.

It was a movie that made me think, and I liked that. I also appreciated that the violence was realistically portrayed, without being just a "blood for blood's sake", and that the sex scene was not something that I'd have to hids the kids eyes from. And yes, the battle scenes were amazing!

[Mercenaryend]

well , it is unrealistic in the fact that like halo games books, you know the 1 man can save the universe kinda thing. well it is true that there may be good warriors , things like the 1000 vs 1 odds are just so....unreal. very rarley in history does the underdog win.
im not religous and if you look at it the "bad guy" and the "good guy" doesnt exist becuase to each other the other is the bad and they are the good. but a blacksmith does not rise up and take control of a castle....especialy lead a battle on such massive scale. it has to do with the a man can change his stars as in a knights tale.... where really....that doesnt really happen... sure if your a black smith , u can...umm join a combat group as a peasent fighter but you most likely have no respect...and ...given no special attention.

[Mercenaryend]

never the less , it was not a bad movie at all and surley makes it on my top 3 movie list witch is....



1-Pirates of the Carribean-ive seen it 19 times ( thats over 43 hours of it)
2-kingdom of Heaven-just the topic of it is what attracts me
3-Gladiator- honest to godly a way under-respected movie.
I also Think the Halo books 1 and 2 are master-peices.
And on best game award its a tie between- Stronghold Crusader
and Halo-Combat Evolved.

[IrishEyes]

Originally Posted by Mercenaryend

well , it is unrealistic in the fact that like halo games books, you know the 1 man can save the universe kinda thing. well it is true that there may be good warriors , things like the 1000 vs 1 odds are just so....unreal. very rarley in history does the underdog win.

I didn't think they tried to make it a '1 man saves the universe' thing. I mean, he didn't even save the city. I thought it was very cool that they showed him having such a strong character though. He knew right from wrong, and he didn't compromise. Being asked by the king to marry the woman that he already loved, and saying "no", because that would mean the death of her husband, took strong convictions. That just seems so rare in most of the movies today.

im not religous and if you look at it the "bad guy" and the "good guy" doesnt exist becuase to each other the other is the bad and they are the good.

I agree, it's all about perspective. I think what my husband was asking was whether or not a movie made for Amercians would be an accurate portrayal of the deceit and butchery actually practiced by many "Christians" during the Crusades. I also think that the blacksmith had the right idea when he spoke of not fighting for the bricks of the city, but for the people. If only more people could understand that...

but a blacksmith does not rise up and take control of a castle....especialy lead a battle on such massive scale. it has to do with the a man can change his stars as in a knights tale.... where really....that doesnt really happen... sure if your a black smith , u can...umm join a combat group as a peasent fighter but you most likely have no respect...and ...given no special attention.

I disagree. I think that when disaster happens, anyone has the opportunity to be a leader. I do not think people are constrained by their birthrights. I think that people are given opportunities to "change their stars" every single day. Whether or not they have the guts, the courage, the foresight, to take advantage of those opportunities, or even to make those opportunities, determines what kind of people they will be. No, not every person can be a king, but every person can make a difference, if they really want to do so.

Just my 2....

[Mercenaryend]

i disagree i think that....

lol sorry but i was talking on a base of what went on not what should be what happenes....
in the crusades if you dont got the blood , you dont have the right basically.

[Mercenaryend]

and i dont know how to do those stupid quotes yet.....grrr

[Mercenaryend]

if youve heard of the feudal system , its kinda like....so incredibly horrible in a sense... its liek this though , unless you have the blood, the realtions , or the aproval ( aproval is a hard thing to get back then ) your stuck farming and giving 8/10's of what you make to your land owner, and!! if you dont comply with this small matter , large chances are you will starve trying to live out of your own recources, or... you will be killed...quite simple actualy!....if there was one thing they liked in the fuedal system , it was making examples of people....

also i hate to look like the evil guy who beleives in nothing , nor cares about anything , becuase i do ! im just stating it how it realy went down.

[IrishEyes]

You can either highlight the entire phrase and then hit the 'quote' button, or you can actually code the quotes into your post. It would look something like this:

(quote) whatever you want to say..... (/ quote)

But instead of using parens, use brackets " [ ] ".

(This is also how you bold or italicize something, just do " (b)whatever you want to be bold (/b) ; or (i) whatever you want in italics (/i) ; again, substituting the (parentheses) with [brackets].
Hope this helps.