I will have to differ slightly here. If this was just a fictional story it would be ok. The history they play with and screw up are what I think hurts the film. That and Orlando Bloom can be annoying. Needless to say Balian, do not slam Orlando too much when in company of some ladies. That is the main reason he was cast. I think.
He was actually a better Paris in "Troy".
The extras to this film which include some history lessons are very good.
Keep in mind that I had not ever heard of the historical person till I came to Stormvale.
Its ok but you can save your money and buy Batman this week or better yet Age Of Empires 3 comes out thursday.
Actually, I think even as a fictional story about the Crusades it suffers from depicting period personalities in a manner I find unbelievable. The speech Bloom gives to rally the troops is something no sane person of the period, and especially a warrior in charge of the holy city of Jerusalem, would give. Pure modern nonsense. A more skilful script could have modernized the story and characters more subtly, like "Lawrence of Arabia", but that kind of subtlety is lost on Hollywood these days.
I don't really mind Orlando Bloom in and of himself, although the casting is annoying. The real Balian d'Ibelin was a formidable figure respected by both sides - Bloom should stick to playing Paris. And yes, his Paris was just fine in "Troy", which I thought was a surprisingly good film.
My real annoyance is that to any degree this film achieves popularity with SCA members, people might assume I had chosen my name to emulate the Bloom character. I haven't been very active outside Stormvale for years. Petty of me, I'm sure, but one has one's vanity.
And I know that most SCA members, recent or older, had never heard of the historical character, but that just adds to my frustration. I wish they'd left him alone, quite aside from embarrassing me.
And to Melisande: no, I don't know how serious I'm going to be about changing my name unless I do have to hear about Orlando Bloom for months or years to come. After all these years, it's difficult to imagine being anyone but Balian.
1 comment:
To clarify.
I liked the movie cause it was entertaining and I like period movies. Until recently not many had been made on such a grand scale.
Once I found out the history and how they messed with it . I was annoyed and not as happy with the movie.
Yeah his speech reminded me of the Braveheart speech. Not all that honest or real.
I did not mention before but I liked the emotional conflict so many had while trying to maintain peace. As a former soldier, this is often missed. People assume you just shoot and kill the enemy. Well to a point yeah but what about your ethics and morals and the things you think about later , like that guy had a family and so on. The Crusaders and the army of the Holy city were all at war within themselves and with each other often without ever picking up a weapon. I saw some of this in this movie and it was nice to see.
I did like Edward Norton as the King of Jerusalem. Very interesting.
Saladin was ok but at times either too much or too little personality that made him seem over the top or comical in him commitment to his cause.
Very inconsistant part of the movie.
I was surprised to see that serious lack of Kingdom of Heaven, Troy, or LOTRs outfits at renfest this year. So I am thinking there is not going to be alot of Balians out there.
I was expecting alot of outfits from these movies but for the most part I saw none. So if people are not dressing up then I doubt they will adopt the name.
I could not see you as anything other than Balian now and its been one year since I unofficially came to Stormvale.
Mike E.
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