Films/DVD Asylum

Posted by mr grits (A) on May 07, 2005 at 18:34:29

Who decided Orlando is a leading man? Why did Scott bury us with endless historical figures in less than straightfoward storytelling just to deliver a simple punch line at the end: Jerusalem is worth nothing, Jerusalem is worth everything.

Scott could have given us a bit more medieval warfare but opted for his "Gladiator" style of action scene cutting which gives you a bare latent image of what's happening. He did give us a (now signature) flowing grass shot and the third 50-frame cameo appearance of his luscious squeeze.

The story shows a meteoric rise of a young blacksmith who is a Noble's (Neeson) only bastard son that escapes to Jerusalem because of a crime of passion he commits. He enters a divided city that has a righteous Christian King who is having problems with those greedy Templars trying to stuff their coffers and start another war with Saladin. Amazingly, he goes from village smittie to a great commander and tactician in record time without aide of war college.

I'm sure Ridley thinks he's made some worthwile political commentary on the futility of the ME but it's just celluloid molasses oozing for 2:40. This was NOT a good Ridley and I would only reccommend it to the DVD crowd.

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