I saw Kingdom of Heaven today!
<fangirly squeal> I loved it, not least because it catered to several of my less PC fantasies (of the 'bring him to my tent/chamber/talan' ilk. Hee.) The standard disclaimer at the end of the credits implied there'd been some liberties taken with the retelling of an actual event, but as 12th century European history isn't my forte I didn't pick up any glaring inaccuracies if there were any. What did impress me all to pieces though was the look of it. Everything looked right, the locations, sets, props, armour, costumes... And, oh, the costumes. Not a skerrick of knitted chain-mail anywhere and no obvious signs of machine sewing - on the principals costumes at least. (Sorry, pet hate. The costume fascist in me will not accept the fantasy if the fantasy doesn't make an effort to look real.) I was coveting the material all over the place, not so much the embroidered silks but the cottons, linens and wool. Gorgeous stuff, the texture was so inviting, I'd be happy never to wear modern-looking cloth again...
There were a couple of bits that made me giggle (Balian, son of Godfrey has the whitest teeth in Christendom!) because I can never completely take visual entertainment seriously but on the whole I had no quibbles with this movie. Alright, perhaps one or two. I'd be iffy about who were made the villains but I'd need to do some research first (it wasn't the Saracens, they were the 'noble enemy') and the 20th century moralising towards the end didn't sit all that comfortably but it wasn't too distracting.
Casting, and acting, was a good standard also. Jeremy Irons overacted just a touch, but hey, you expect that from him, and it was sooo nice to see David Thewlis not playing a slimy villain. Orli was convincing enough and what man would regret begetting such a pretty bastard? : )
So yes, I liked this movie. If you liked Gladiator you'll like this one - same director, same cinematic style, same splattering of gore. <g> I'd give it a squee factor of 7/10 - meaning that I was squeeing quietly to myself for about 70% of the movie. Coincidentally Orli was onscreen for least 70% of the time as well, not that that has any relation, I'm sure.