I am a moron.

[gridlore]

Seriously.. today, the_ogre and I were finally going to go shooting together. We had the guns, I had my hearing protectors, and I was ready!

Except for one little thing..

I forgot my driver's license. Shooting ranges require a license before renting you the space.

D'oh!

Having been proven an idiot (I knew this was a requirement, damnit!) We instead shopped a little, and I handled a sweet 9mm (must go back!) then decided to go see a movie so the day wouldn't be a complete wash. We decided on Kingdom of Heaven.

Wow. Just.. wow. Ridley Scott has made an amazingly rich and luscious film here. The thing is beautiful from start to finish. The battle scenes are brutal without giving into gore, and the film does a good job of showing the real people and motivations swirling around the Kingdom of Jerusalem. Jerusalem itself is real, a cunning combination of real views and CGI. Orlando Bloom is actually starting to grow on me as an actor, Ghassan Massoud is brilliant as Saladin, and Edward Norton plays the doomed King Baldwin wearing a silver mask to hide his leprosy.

One visual that sticks with me is the use of the True Cross (or what the Crusader kingdom believed to be the true cross) which was heavily gilded and bejeweled. Many times during the film the lighting is such that the cross is either the first thing you see or is a glowing beacon in the battle lines. Stunning, simply stunning.

princeofcairo posted a very good review with a great deal of historical detail; but this is a movie that can be appreciated on its own merits.

I give it an 8/10.

Only two major anachronisms that we spotted. Stirrups in 12th Century France (the bishops men were using them) and a clear glass bottle in Jerusalem (about 400 years early for glass of that clarity and color.)

Comments

[rboleyn.livejournal.com]

My memory says that stirrups were in use by the crusades, even the First. That's late 11th century.

[gridlore.livejournal.com]

I'm finding conflicting sources, some claiming stirrups in Western Europe as early as Charles Martel, others claiming that the strrup wasn't common until the 14th Century. Odds are that they were introduced at different rates in different places.