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Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Marton Csokas, Liam Neeson

During the Crusades fighting in the Holy Land was considered a ticket to Heaven a way to have transgressions forgiven. When Godfrey a knight during the second Crusade (Liam Neesom) seeks out his son Balian (Orlando Bloom) it is to ask his forgiveness for not being there for him. He invites his son to come with him to Jerusalem to fight and, perhaps, redeem the soul of his wife who committed suicide. Initially reluctant he decides to follow in his father’s footsteps. A riveting if inconsistent period action drama, “Kingdom of Heaven” showcases director Ridley Scott (“Gladiator”, “Blade Runner”, “Thelma and Louise”) doing what he does best; creating brilliant action equences with a painter’s eye for detail and creating a world (either real or imagined) for a powerful drama. While the film manages to lose many details (such as how Balian who has never had experience in battle before could possibly have created a formidable defense against the Muslims) the overall impact of the film is as powerful if a bit less compelling than “Gladiator”. It’s easy to criticize an ambitious epic like this and lose sight of the memorable narrative that Scott creates visually. Regardless of how you feel about the cast or what you have heard “Kingdom of Heaven” must be experienced as no words will do the visuals on display here justice. As with Scott’s previously “historical epic” there’s less history than meets the eye. Scott is concerned with telling a cmpelling story not staying true to what really occurred in 1174 AD. ---

A superb transfer from Fox supervised by Scott this two disc set wisely has most of the extras on the second disc freeing up as much bit space as possible for the riveting experience of the visuals and the Dolby Digital Surround and DTS soundtracks. Not surprisingly the visuals are full of a clean clear images the only criticism I can make of the film is that including both a Dolby Digital Surround soundtrack and a DTS soundtrack might have been a bit too ambitious for one disc as it does restrict the amount of space on the disc. Still, the film is relatively free of the digital artifacts one sees when disc space is limited.

The first disc includes “Inside Look” the promo piece produced by Fox to promote other films and, in this case, they promote one that fits the feel of Scott’s film “Tristan & Isolde”. Since it’s another Scottfree Production it’s even more fitting. It’s about 2 minutes long. Fox wisely decided to license two documentaries one produced for A&E and the other for The History Channel. As any efforts to produce their own program would only duplicate what had already been done. Since both were financed as movie tie-in’s it’s not a surprise that they ended up here. “Movie Real: ‘Kingdom of Heaven’” focuses on history vs. what’s portrayed in the movie. Featuring Scott, Bloom, Eva Green and history scholars it’s a nice combination of a promo piece and a history documentary. Mind you, it’s far from being a “pure” documentary and, no doubt, history professors sneered when they saw it but it provides a nice contrast between the “reel” world vs. the “real” one. “History vs. Hollywood” from The History Channel takes the theme of the A&E documentary one step further focusing on the film itself with little history. Are they essential to enjoying the film? No but they will give you a bit of appreciation of the difficult task that Scott faced in recreating 1174 AD and the liberties he took with the time frame. ***

”Internet Featurettes” lives up to its title. The first features Scott discussing the challenges of creating this film. The second focuses on Orlando Bloom, his training for the role and the physical difficulties he faced shooting it. “Production Design” takes us behind-the-scenes by giving us the production drawings and finished product used in the film. “Costume Design” again focuses on the historical time frame and how the costumers tried to integrate designs from the time into the clothing of the film. ***

The most fascinating extra here is the “Interactive Production Grid”. It’s a cool device that allows the viewer a behind-the-scenes experience from the director, crew or cast. You’re able to view all three phases of filmmaking from pre-production to post-production. The DVD takes you to a page where a grid is presented and you may select from one part of the grid or hit the “Play All” option to see them all. ---

A marvelous DVD transfer and some nice extras highlight “Kingdom of Heaven”. Like the extras for “Gladiator” most of these extras were aired during the film’s run to promote the film. They’re not bad but not as good as something with a less commercial edge. The Internet Featurettes are gathered up here as well as well as a clever “Interactive Production Grid” allowing you to look at the production process from a number of points of views. Scott’s film isn’t flawless but it’s an involving and engaging historical epic that is worthwhile watching. Just be aware that there’s probably a double dip somewhere in your future should you want a more involving DVD set.