KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (2005), dir. Ridley Scott

Like the characters depicted in this movie, I went to Jerusalem looking for God, but never found Him.

Indeed, the closest “Kingdom of Heaven” gets to religious idolatry are a few shots of a big gold cross. It looks gaudy and overly ornate, like it should be hanging on the wall of a drive-thru chapel in Las Vegas.

Removing anything resembling religious passion from a movie about the holy land is quite a gamble, and in this case, not an altogether successful one. What we are left with is a routine, albeit beautiful-looking action-adventure flick. Its saving grace is director Ridley Scott ("The Duellists," “Gladiator”), who fills the frame with his usual repertoire of exotic, painterly visuals and minimal characterization.

Orlando Bloom plays Balian, a young blacksmith who journeys to Jerusalem, becomes knighted, gains the affections of a princess, and is left to save the city from rampaging Muslims. He doesn’t really do much to end up in such a precarious position. Rather, it’s what he doesn’t do which lands him in hot water. Balian may be a character who stays true to his conscience to the very end, but that doesn’t make him the most exciting protagonist.

But if he’s a dull hero, the villains are even worse off. While the idea of Christian fanatics as opposed to Muslim ones may seem clever on paper, the script lets them down. Writer William Monahan reduces the majority of Christian characters to broad caricatures, especially Marton Csokas as Guy de Lusignan, the main heavy. The usually-reliable Brendan Gleeson is also wasted as de Lusignan’s slob sidekick. One gets the feeling that their hatred towards Muslims stems from a sense of religious superiority. However, since we get so little Christianity in this movie, it’s hard to know exactly what motivates them. To their credit, the actors don’t seem to know themselves.

A lot of the dialogue is flat. Also, scenes at court where Csokas’ knights wearing red crosses nearly come to blows with Jeremy Irons’ knights wearing blue crosses seem unnecessary. At least we have those sweeping battle sequences at the end, involving catapults, siege towers, and things getting blown up real good. Like Scott’s last war epic, the contemporary “Blackhawk Down,” most of the combat footage is shot from ground level, representing the point of view of man, not God, who wouldn’t be watching anyway.

Overall rating: ** (out of ****)