Epic 'Kingdom' has a weak link

Cross and crescent clash when Christians and Muslims struggle for the soul of Jerusalem. Which century are we in, the 12th or the 21st?

The heart of Ridley Scott's Kingdom of Heaven is in 1186 as the Muslim warrior Saladin catapults fireballs over the gates of Jerusalem while Christian Crusaders defend the Holy City.

But the movie's mind is more 21st century. Scott's ambitious, respectful and emotionally detached saga gives us (a) zealots who fervently believe my God is stronger than yours, (b) moderates who hold that Jerusalem belongs to all faiths, and (c) entrepreneurs for whom holy war affords the opportunity to make money and reputation.

The film's nominal hero, Balian (a listless Orlando Bloom), approaches the part as though it were a multiple-choice exam for which he forgot to study.

A sinner without faith, Balian joins the Crusades in the vague hope he can atone for murder and maybe also get acquainted with the father he never knew existed.

Balian's dad (Liam Neeson as Godfrey) sports a helmet resembling the lid of a wok and a penitent attitude resembling that of a man in a 12-step program. "Forgive me for raping your mother," Godfrey says to Balian by way of hello.

Sir Godfrey recruits his bastard son, a blacksmith, to join him in the new Jerusalem. Godfrey promises Balian a new world where "you are not what you are born, but what you have in yourself to become" - medieval for "be all that you can be."

As they head out of France for the Holy Land, Kingdom of Heaven broadens in scope, landscape and anachronism. Scott's gifts as an imagist (Blade Runner, Gladiator) are seductive, particularly in the sequences boasting the sand-colored, sun-kissed structures of fortress Jerusalem.

He is likewise a sympathetic director of actors, as evinced in the commanding performances by Neeson, Edward Norton (as the leper King Baldwin, soft-spoken behind a silver mask), Jeremy Irons (as Tiberias), and the charismatic Ghassan Massoud (as Saladin).

It might be because he is buttressed by so many manly, vital performances that Bloom comes off all the more boyish and withdrawn, a Shetland pony among stallions.

Weirdly, Bloom's Balian, whom screenwriter William Monahan tasks with bringing peace to the Middle East, seems almost superfluous in a film that argues that not all Christians are good and not all Muslims bad.

It's hard to say with assurance whether the flaw is in Bloom's performance or in Monahan's politically correct conception of Balian, precociously secular for a Crusader.

If you think of the film as a doughnut with Bloom as its hole, the cinematography, supporting performances and battle sequences are so meticulously mounted that they still compel, even when Bloom fails to.

Contact movie critic Carrie Rickey

at 215-854-5402 or crickey@phillynews.com.

Read her recent work at http://go.philly.com/carrierickey.

Kingdom of Heaven

** 1/2 (out of four stars)

Produced and directed by Ridley Scott, written by William Monahan, photography by John Mathieson, music by Harry Gregson-Williams, distributed by 20th Century Fox.

Running time: 2 hours, 25 mins.

Balian. . . Orlando Bloom

Godfrey. . . Liam Neeson

Hospitaler. . . David Thewlis

Guy de Lusignan. . . Marton Csokas

Sibylla. . . Eva Green

Tiberias............................Jeremy Irons

Saladin...................Ghassan Massoud

Parent's guide: R (extreme battle violence)

Playing at: area theaters