Kingdom Of Heaven (Director's Cut) (Blu-Ray)

My first experience with Kindgom of Heaven was at my house on a normal DVD, now my eyes have been opened. At a friends house we watched this on Blu ray and it was phenominal.

The film itself bears little to fault, it is a good story with a range of different characters some likeable others not so. It is fast paced with a lot of bloody action that unfolds as the christians fight to hold Jerusalem.
Orlando Bloom's portrayel of Bailin the blacksmith, (illigitimate son of a knight played by Liam Nesson (of whom i am a great fan) is good and we are introduced to his character and the background strait away. His wife had killed herself over the sadness of their still born son, his brother an unlikable priest has her head removed from her body upon her burial. He later confronts the blacksmith about the affair in an unspeakable manner and recieves a well deserved red hot sword to the stomach.
Bailin's father who is knight riding to Jerusalem to fight in the crusades rides through and asks Bailin to join him. which after a while he does. As the story unfolds it falls upon Bailin to lead the defence of Jerusalem.
The story tends to be much more about differing views on religion at such a tender religious time. We see through the eyes of Bailin a contempt for religion and all its wrongs, and through others we see its good. It is such a well made film and brings forth a clear message that on both sides of a war there are good people. It clearly lists the faults of the people of the two major religions in the film but does not fault the religions themselves especially, so comes across questioning but not offensive which is cleverly done on the script side of things.
The script is very well written and Ridley scott's directing is near perfect, every camera shot and scene can remain free from criticism.
The acting is excellent with two well known people as great roles. Liam Neeson's role was well played although i would have liked to have seen more of him, and orlando Bloom's acting was up to standards and every other role was perfectly filled.

The fact that this is the directors cut does not go unnoticed as i watched several scenes that i previously had not. The Blu-ray side shone through quite clearly, every bead of sweat shone from the characters head and every glimmer was caught in the highest of quality, however it will be a long time before i fork out the 100 £ difference for a Blu-ray disk player.
The only criticisms i can give to this film is that certain characters whom i wished to see more of were killed off too quickly. And at times the plot drifted towards elements that didnt really have a huge effect. but overall it was a poignant, action packed, exciting film for all full of indepth characters and great directing and costume design that would appeal to all audiences.
There are a variety of extra's which i did not look into in much detail myself but may appeal to others.