Priced at only $20 bills, Ridley Scott‘s four-disc “director’s cut” DVD of Kingdom of Heaven, which streeted last Tuesday, seems like one the greatest values and bargains out there right now…an absolute must-own for folks like me, certainly. The truckloads of material seem staggering…not just Scott’s preferred 194-minute cut, which I reviewed out of a commercial showing at Laemmle’s Fairfax last January, but a motherload of extras including a three-hour, six-part documentary called “The Path to Redemption”. If the doc is anything like the one that accompanied the DVD of Scott’s Matchstick Men, it’ll be well worth it. Last January I wrote that Kingdom‘s theatrical cut “was a painterly, politically nutritious meal that felt more than a touch truncated and a bit shy of playing like a true epic-type thing. The longer cut makes it into a fuller, tastier, more banquet-y type deal…sweepier and more sumptuous and better told….certainly a finer and more substantial film. And this fact makes 20th Century Fox’s decision to release its shorter, runtier kid brother seem more than a little distasteful. Only an idiot could have watched both versions last spring or late winter…whenever it was that Fox and Scott sorted things through…and not realized that the longer version was the distinctly better film.”
Yeah, this DVD rocks. Best purchase I made this week.
Something is very wrong over at Fox. Directors, please, if you have an epic film with a large budget, and you have a distinct vision for that film, don’t take it to Fox. What they did Kingdom of Heaven is absurd.
I’d accuse them of doing the same to X3 when they fired Mathew Vaughn, whom I’d bet said to an exceutive, let’s make it more epic, give me a 2 and a half hour running time, and they said, you’re fired. That film ended up serviceable and it wouldn’t have gotten the opening its getting with an additional hour, gotta get those extra screenings in. It had the potential to be one of the few great summer films of all time, instead, its just ok.
Kingdom of Heaven was never meant to be a summer film. It would’ve been better suited to open the holiday season where it could be marketed for what it actually is. I don’t know why they did what they did, but at least they have given us the DC in good time, before the film is completely forgotten, now, it won’t be.
Wells, how about an in depth article on this, trace how long its been since Fox has actually given us a great movie.
Jeffrey, you get a mention on the DVD in the section on the creation of the Director’s Cut. Someone obviously liked what you had to say …
Not available for rental on any online serive or store? Strange.