Kingdom of Heaven. Kingdom of Top 10.

"A King may move a man, a father may claim a son, but remember that even when those who move you be Kings, or men of power, your soul is in your keeping alone." Spoken beautifully by Edward Norton's depiction of King Baldwin, the king of Jerusalem. I can't even begin to explain how this movie makes me feel. I've been meaning to watch this for a while and waited for the perfect moment to do so. A nice Friday evening, after a week full of busy bullshit, I sat and cracked open a beer, beginning a nearly 2.5-hour journey to the heart of the holy land. Ridley Scott has built quite a reputation over the years creating his pride and joy, epic historical dramas. This one did not fail to impress. I went into this movie sort of blind in terms of expectations, with only my knowledge of the many memes of the internet has made of King Baldwin putting his hand up and silencing the crowd of Christians. I knew it was good, but not this good.

Like most people, my measure of how good a movie is all relies on how I left the movie feeling. In this case, within a week of finishing the film, my Amazon cart is nearly filled to the brim with potential King Baldwin masks to sit in my man cave and canvas paintings depicting scenes I deemed incredibly badass. Another film in which its historical accuracies aided in its excellence. Some liberties are taken which is not abnormal for the brilliant Ridley Scott. However, his narrative changes always prove to make a real story even better, combining the best elements of accuracy and dramatization. The moral and ethical dilemmas that the film explores are extremely thought-provoking and are supported by the beautiful landscapes of Spain and Morocco where it was filmed. Tackling the feud of the Middle East is no easy task, especially in a time like the Crusades. The only thing negative I will say is that I thought Ridley Scott's atheism was apparent in his depiction of the Christians. It was intentional to have Saladin and the Islamic people be peaceful and enlightened, while the Christians were shown as the blood-thirsty aggressors. This is also unfortunately a majority of how the West views the Crusades. It was viewed as unnecessary and senseless violence, yet that is not the truth. The story's strength lies in the reality of conflict between people with different ideas at the time. Orlando Bloom, Edward Norton, Liam Neeson (was incredible), and Eva Green (beautiful) truly stole the show. Give it a watch if you have not already.