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Kingdomsm of Heaven, baground during the middle ages. This movie tel about A blacksmith named Balian has lost his family and nearly his faith. The religious wars raging in the far-off Holy Land seem remote to him, yet he is pulled into that immense drama. Amid the pageantry and intrigues of medieval Jerusalem he falls in love, grows into a leader, and ultimately uses all his courage and skill to defend the city against staggering odds. Destiny comes seeking Balian in the form of a great knight, Godfrey of Ibelin, a Crusader briefly home to France from fighting in the East. Revealing himself as Balian's father, Godfrey shows him the true meaning of knighthood and takes him on a journey across continents to the fabled Holy City. In Jerusalem at that moment--between the Second and Third Crusades--a fragile peace prevails, through the efforts of its enlightened Christian king, Baldwin IV, aided by his advisor Tiberias, and the military restraint of the legendary Muslim leader Saladin. But Baldwin's days are numbered, and strains of fanaticism, greed, and jealousy among the Crusaders threaten to shatter the truce. King Baldwin's vision of peace--a kingdom of heaven--is shared by a handful of knights, including Godfrey of Ibelin, who swear to uphold it with their lives and honor. As Godfrey passes his sword to his son, he also passes on that sacred oath: to protect the helpless, safeguard the peace, and work toward harmony between religions and cultures, so that a kingdom of heaven can flourish on earth. Balian takes the sword and steps into history.This movie stakes out its own kind of neutrality by viewing these events through the eyes of Balian of Ibelin (Orlando Bloom), a French blacksmith who has been doubting his faith ever since his wife committed suicide, thus damning herself in the church's eyes. As his wife's corpse is laid to rest, a knight named Godfrey (Liam Neeson) visits Balian's smithy, reveals that he is Balian's father, and offers to take him to the Holy Land. Balian is reluctant at first, but when he sees that the local priest has not only beheaded his wife's body but stolen her crucifix, he kills the man in a crime of passion. To atone for both his sin and his wife's, Balian then catches up with Godfrey to go with him to Jerusalem.

While I don't want to beat the illogical plot argument to death, there's a particular scene that defies explanation. Godfrey of Ibelin, this fierce, intelligent man who cared deeply for his fellow human beings, lived outside the city of Jerusalem for what we have to assume was his entire adult life. But it takes pretty boy Balian all of two seconds once he inherits the land to determine what's missing is water. Excuse me? Are we to assume Godfrey just never got around to figuring out he needed to dig a few wells to help his people? This scene is the focus of at least 10 minutes of screen time, so Scott must have felt it was important to show the audience Balian's compassion for the people who crossed his father's land. In actuality, all the scene does is drive home the fact the plot has enough holes for a herd of elephants to pass through.

Another disappointment has to do with the love story that's inserted in the film. As expected, Orlando Bloom gets to bed a beautiful woman. What's not expected is that after a 2-3 second scene of the two about to make love, that's it. You've got a half-dressed Orlando Bloom and the sexy Eva Green crawling into bed and you don't show anything?