Belated Surprise: Kingdom of Heaven Directors Cut!

Wow, I ran across a copy of the Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut today and I must say it is a travesty what the studio did to the original theatrical cut. I was expecting a well shot movie with some character holes and a few new scenes and discovered almost an hour of new footage that slides in to create a better smoother cut then the original damn release! The best way i can describe it is turning the original Orlando Bloom focused gladiator inspired epic into an entire tapestry of the setting, politics, and conflicts, both physical and mental in the Levant during the final days of Christian Jerusalem.

At a risk of sounding long winded and redundant, I highly recommend anyone who felt the original release had character holes, skimmed over background, or a lack of real emotional impact take a look at the directors cut, because it makes for a whole new movie.

PS: (The mystery of Balians mastery of siege warfare is revealed along with a discovery that the studio suits totally dismantled the excellent prologue of tension and intrigue in France before Balian takes up the Cross.)

It was a much better film, but the problem with the Director's Cut is that the first part of the movie becomes much better than the second.

Something about the siege just doesn't do it for me...

Ill agree with that, but I have a feeling its because the shock value of such a huge brutal fight is gone by the time you get to watching the DC over the possibly several times that siege has already been seen. In that regard, you know the siege is going to be somewhat unchanged in the DC while i had no idea whatsoever such a large and deep beginning was cut, which kind of creates a feeling of seeing a brand new movie before running into the middle which is still largely intact until the end.

I purchased it recently due to the advise of TB666, though I haven't got to see it yet.

I want some version with battle of Hattin (ofcourse non existant). Damn Hollywood. And without Orlando Bloom as Balian of Ibelin.

I've been looking at getting the Director's Cut because of the (mostly) positive comments I've read about it in the forums but problem is, the only place I can seem to find it is at Barnes & Noble, and they normally tend to have their DVD's marked up like 25% higher than you'd find them elsewhere.

Excellent news, did they add in the backstory with the Princess and her child?

Yes they did. This makes the story much better.

Originally Posted by HunterKYA

I've been looking at getting the Director's Cut because of the (mostly) positive comments I've read about it in the forums but problem is, the only place I can seem to find it is at Barnes & Noble, and they normally tend to have their DVD's marked up like 25% higher than you'd find them elsewhere.

Go to Best Buy. That is where I got my copy.


(Please use the 'Edit' button, instead of double posting)

Yes the additions to Sybilla were huge, as she now genuinely comes across as a tormented unhappy princess and the idea of her running off at the end with Balian becomes a lot more credible. (The scenes involving the boy king were pretty heavy after she and Tiberius make the discovery)

On the note of subplots, the DC added in several new ones, from my personal favorite of the poor Gravedigger who begins in France and makes several timely appearances to the revelation in the opening that Balian had already fought in several small brushfire wars between lords, directing sieges and fighting from horseback- going so far as to earn praise from the local lord for his excellent silver working and ingenuity (He was a provincial backwater Leonardo-William Monahan, Writer)

i didnt see the theatre version but i got the DC version and i like it. abit too long though and the siege should of been longer or at least of shown us the battle of hattin

Originally Posted by Marku

i didnt see the theatre version but i got the DC version and i like it. abit too long though and the siege should of been longer or at least of shown us the battle of hattin

God forbid a movie depicts good, honest Christians getting pwned

I think I'll order the DC from Amazon rather than get it from Best Buy, because I can get it for half the price from Amazon.

Actually, if you watch the interviews with Ridley Scott, you will see that they presented and worked from, two seperate scripts during the entire post production of he film. The only problem the studio had was the length of the movie, which Ridley admits in the interview.

So, in reality, both versions are what the director intended them to be. I honestly prefer the extended version over the theatrical. But the only reason why I bought the directors cut was because I realy did enjoy the theatrical.

Bump

I'm borrowing my friend's copy of this, going to watch it after my final today. I'm pretty excited, all the youtube clips I saw make this movie look really good.

Are there any other similar movies anyone would suggest?

There is an extended version of Oliver Stone's Alexander out.

^^Is that any good? I heard the original was terrible.

PS KoH is easily the best movie I've seen since Downfall. They may be completely different, but damn, this was a good movie.

Well the original Alexander, when I watched it felt kinda boring, but that was a few years back.

The original Alexander was pretty bad and disjointed. The extended is much better. They have even toned down the gay general scenes.

Yeah, I totally agree. The director cut's are usually good and leave me scratching my head, wondering why they didn't put those versions on the big screen.

Has anyone seen the Troy: Director's Cut? It's so much better than the original. Besides adding extended scenes and new scenes that plug the holes and add more to the film, they added more action scenes to the all the battles and there's more blood and gore. Even the sacking of Troy is 10x more violent. This version is definitely not for kids.

Oh wow there's a Director's Cut of Troy? Wow definitely to buy along with the Cut of Kingdom of Heaven!