Kingdom of Heaven

"Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Safeguard the helpless, and do no wrong"

2005 2h 24m EN

👍

7.1

SOLID

★7.1TMDB · 5,282

DramaActionAdventureHistoryWar

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

After his wife dies, a blacksmith named Balian is thrust into royalty, political intrigue and bloody holy wars during the Crusades.

“Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Safeguard the helpless, and do no wrong”

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Cast

Orlando Bloom
Balian de Ibelin
Eva Green
Sibylla
Jeremy Irons
Tiberias
David Thewlis
Hospitaler
Ghassan Massoud
Saladin
Liam Neeson
Godfrey de Ibelin
Brendan Gleeson
Reynald de Chatillon
Marton Csokas
Guy de Lusignan

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Ridley Scott
Writers: William Monahan, Cristiano Donzelli
Languages: Arabic, English, Italian, Latin
Countries: United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$130M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 21 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Arabic, English, Italian, Latin.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 4 countries: United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CAST

Did you know

260+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Ridley Scott, shot by John Mathieson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Harry Gregson-Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Dody Dorn shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Ridley Scott directs. John Mathieson behind the camera. Harry Gregson-Williams scores. Dody Dorn cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain. Dialogue in Arabic, English, Italian, Latin.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1$130M budget — tentpole studio territory.
2Released 21 years ago.
3Dialogue crosses 4 languages: Arabic, English, Italian, Latin.
4International production across 4 countries: United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany, Spain.
5260+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
6Directed by Ridley Scott, shot by John Mathieson. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Harry Gregson-Williams. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Dody Dorn shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Orlando Bloom and Eva Green and Jeremy Irons carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "Be without fear in the face of your enemies. Safeguard the helpless, and do no wrong".
11IMDB entry: tt0320661 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 18 themes, including "blacksmith", "muslim", "crusade", "jerusalem".

The technical file

Cinematography: John Mathieson
Original score: Harry Gregson-Williams
Editing: Dody Dorn
Production design: Arthur Max
Costume design: Janty Yates
Makeup / hair: Mariam Lee Abounouom
VFX supervisor: Peter Chiang
Sound: Mark Taylor
Stunt coordinator: Gustáv Kyselica
Runtime: 144 min · 2h 24m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $130,000,000
Box office: $218,366,336
Return: 168% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

Awards

Jameson People's Choice Award for Best Actor

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Ridley Scott

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2018-09-25
★ 6/10
Good start and ending, weak middle, but magnificent photography and haunting score "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005) isn’t as good as contemporaneous sword & sandal flicks "Troy" (one of my favorites) and "King Arthur" (very good), but it's not bad either. THE PLOT: After the death of his child and suicide of his wife, Balian (Orlando Bloom) meets his long, lost father (Liam Neeson) who encourages him to go to Jerusalem and start a new life. After a long eventful trip, Balian arrives in Jerusalem and is introduced to Princess Sibylla (Eva Green), the leprous King Baldwin and other VIPs. The political maneuverings of these key personnel is mindboggling (I suggest using the subtitles to keep track of who’s who) but, when all is said and done, Balian must rise to the challenge of defending the city against Saladin (Ghassan Massoud) and his great Muslim army. Like "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962), "Kingdom of Heaven" is a film that can be enjoyed just for the visuals and soundtrack. The film was shot in Morocco where a vast replica of ancient Jerusalem was built in the desert with the backgrounds enhanced by CGI effects, and so on. Story-wise, the beginning and ending are strong while the convoluted soap operatics of Jerusalem aren't very compelling, but Eva Green's awesome eyes help. I'm no connoisseur of the crusades but I realize the filmmakers put a modern spin on the events and ideology of the characters. So what else is new? In any case, I was impressed that all the main players are based on real-life people and that the gist of the story is accurate. The Theatrical Cut runs 144 minutes and the Director's Cut about 48 minutes longer. The DC is heralded as one of the best DCs ever, like "Daredevil" (2003). BOTTOM LINE: "Kingdom of Heaven" is worth it just for the magnificent visuals and soundtrack. The story starts strong and ends strong while the dramatics of the lengthy mid-section are complicated and not very compelling. But story drive and interesting characters were never director Ridley Scott’s strong suit. Nevertheless, Orlando Bloom is likable as the protagonist and Massoud makes for a striking Saladin, who doesn’t appear till the halfway point. GRADE: C+/B-
BornKnight2024-02-20
★ 8/10
One of the most hated movies by Ridley Scott, that shows the difference of what versions and cuts can have on a movie. This movie have a Theatrical version (144 min.) a Director's Cut (189 min.) and Director's Cut Roadshow Version (194 min.) (that I watched years after watching the theatrical on cinema). The movie is loosely based on the story of Balian I of Ibelin (originally a noble of French or Italy, but portraited as his son in this movie and epoch) travels to Jerusalem during the Crusades of the 12th century, and there he finds himself as the defender of the city and its people. A tale of noble actions and ideals on the 2nd Crusade among equally noblesse and troubled people. It is not totally historically accurate (let's say 50%) but is one of the most impressive movies about the crusade with all the desert, sun and bloody scenes than you can imagine (and a fictional end). Originally a 7.0 raised up to a 7.8 out of 10.0 in this version B+ (not sure if this is the version that Netflix have).