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'Kingdom of Heaven': The movie-making is better than the movie

Whatever director Ridley Scott does is of interest, whether it's sending Susan Sarandon and Geena Davis off a cliff in "Thelma & Louise," trailing Harrison Ford through a drizzly neon future in "Blade Runner" or placing a gut-busting monster in John Hurt's belly in "Alien."

Scott's new film, "Kingdom of Heaven," most closely recalls his Oscar-winning "Gladiator" in that it sets an epic story in one of those long-time-ago, far, far away places. In this case, it's 12th-century Jerusalem in the middle of the Crusades. The parallel to today's mess in the Middle East isn't merely implied, it's spelled out. "Wall, mosque, sepulchre. Which is more sacred?" a character asks.

20th Century Fox 'Kingdom of Heaven' C The verdict: Splendid moviemaking, but a less-than-splendid movie. Director: Ridley Scott Starring: Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Jeremy Irons, Eva Green, Martin Hancock, Michael Sheen, Nathalie Cox Run time: 145 minutes Release date: May 6, 2005 Rating: R for strong violence and epic warfare. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate "Kingdom of Heaven"   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

Balian (Orlando Bloom) is a humble blacksmith, not a glorious general. However, like "Gladiator's" Maximus, he's a widower, his wife having committed suicide after giving birth to their dead son.

Understandably upset, Balian badly needs a change of scenery. Conveniently, along comes Godfrey (Liam Neeson), a knight who's returned to France from the Holy Land to tell Balian that he's his heretofore unacknowledged son — and to invite him to accompany him back to Jerusalem. Godfrey truly believes a kingdom of heaven can be created there, a utopian state of religious tolerance and mutual respect among different nations and faiths.

Of course, the reality is it's more of a blood-for-oil situation where greedy men use pumped-up (and often pretend) religious zealotry to cloak their lust for land and gold. The mostly Muslim people who already live there are right to resent and ultimately resist the Christian invaders, but they have their own problems with religious fanatics. And both sides insist that killing an unbeliever isn't murder but "a path to heaven." Whose heaven is the sticking point.

Jerusalem itself has the bustle of a Wild West frontier town, where medieval pageantry and Middle Eastern traditions mix, but don't always match. The king (Edward Norton, in an eerie silver mask) is a good leader, but eaten away by leprosy. He immediately senses young Balian's potential. As does the king's esteemed advisor, Tiberias (Jeremy Irons), and the king's esteemed enemy, the magnetic Muslim leader Saladin (Ghassan Massoud).

The king's sexy sister, Sibylla (Eva Green), sees Balian's potential, too, but in more personal terms. Too bad she's already married to the dastardly Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas). We know he's bad because of his greasy goatee and his soccer-thug best pal (Brendan Gleeson in full barbarian mode), who embodies all the worst in Western imperialism. Plus, Guy takes an instant dislike to Balian, telling him, "I am Guy de Lusignan! Remember that name! Remember this face!"

What is this, Robert Taylor in the old '50s movie, "Ivanhoe?"

Without his "The Lord of the Rings" elf ears, Bloom wilts. He's a good actor, certainly a likable one. But Balian as written is pretty much a noble blank, and Bloom doesn't have what it takes to fill in that blank. He lacks Russell Crowe's charismatic heft or, going back a generation, Peter O'Toole's radiant passion. He's lots better than Colin Farrell in the ill-fated and frankly laughable "Alexander," but he's still an unfortunate casting choice. A better one, perhaps, would've been Eric Bana, the Australian actor who played Hector in last year's "Troy."

The spectre of Peter Jackson's "Rings" trilogy hovers over the movie in other ways as well. As he proved in "Black Hawk Down," Scott can stage full-screen battles with the best of them. Here, he gives us some magnificent set pieces. A firestorm of flaming arrows at night. A massive army marching to battle with a giant golden cross at its head. Saladin's 200,000 horses thundering across a desert plain.

But even as hundreds of men scramble up immense wooden towers being towed toward Jerusalem's walls, the thought occurs, where are the Olyphants?

As played by the powerful Massoud, Saladin is the most arresting figure in the film, a man as wily as he is honorable. But Massoud has too little screen time. Same goes for the ever reliable Neeson, who checks out early.

On the other end of the spectrum, Green, so riveting in "The Dreamers," is even more disappointing than Bloom. She gives a lifeless, TV-sized performance, more suitable to the shallow petulance of "The Simple Life" than an cast-of-thousands picture.

Jerusalem, Saladin tells Balian, is "everything" and "nothing." Scott's well-crafted, intelligent epic inhabits some middle ground between the two — better than nothing, but not everything it should be.