History YMMV / KingdomOfHeaven

** [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade Guy de Lusignan]] is the [[BigBad head]] of a [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar faction of knights]] who chafe at not being allowed to [[BloodKnight make war]] on "the Saracens". Together with his psychotic sidekick, Reynald de Châtillon, Guy massacres a Muslim caravan, hoping to provoke war with Sultan Saladin, but is foiled when King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem persuades Saladin to relent and jails Reynald. Following Baldwin's death, Guy frees Reynald and sends him out to waylay and butcher another caravan, this one including Saladin's own sister. When Saladin sends an envoy to request the return of his sister's body, Guy murders the envoy in view of his party then sends his head back to Saladin as a [[WarForFunAndProfit declaration of war]]. Ignoring the advice of those who have fought the Muslims before, [[GeneralFailure Guy]] marches his entire army into the desert without sufficient food or water, damning all those who disagree with this plan as cowards, and gloating about the {{glory|Hound}} he will attain when he bests Saladin. When his army is killed almost to a man, and Reynald executed in front of him by Saladin, Guy refuses to accept any responsibility, [[NeverMyFault blaming everyone but himself]] for the way that things have worked out.
** [[TheDragon Reynald de Châtillon]] in the director's cut is worse than in the theatrical version. Reynald is a [[AristocratsAreEvil vicious nobleman]] who [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain hates Muslims]] and seeks any excuse to slaughter them; he is known to frequently slaughter caravans of Muslim civilians. Later, Reynald tells Guy de Lusignan that he [[BloodKnight wants war]] with the Saracens "soon". Together, they slaughter the caravan, with Reynald having a psychotic smirk the entire time. After Guy de Lusignan becomes king, he asks Reynald to give him war, with Reynald provoking Saladin by slaughtering yet another caravan and beheading captives. Reynald also personally [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil rapes]] and murders Saladin's sister. When captured by Saladin, Reynald grins to him and shows no remorse for his actions.

* IronWoobie: King Baldwin.
* JustHereForGodzilla: Some tune in (to the Director's Cut anyway) for Eva Green as Sibylla - a PoliticallyActivePrincess who plays political games to ensure the future of both her son and the kingdom, and also spends most of her screen time in {{Pimped Out Dress}}es.

** Balian's brother is played by Creator/MichaelSheen in a two-bit part.

** Creator/NikolajCosterWaldau appears in a small role as the village sheriff.
** Many people will only recognize Creator/IainGlen as King Richard the Lion-Hearted after his turn in ''Series/GameOfThrones''.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Even in its tarnished form, it was better received in European and Middle Eastern/African territories. Natural, given that they are countries directly implied in the Crusades, but not so easy as it sounds, given that we are talking about both sides of the conflict.

* JustHereForGodzilla: Some tune in (to the Director's Cut anyway) for Eva Green as Sibylla - a RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething, who plays political games to ensure the future of both her son and the kingdom, and also spends most of her screen time dressed up like a medieval princess.

* JustHereForGodzilla: Some tune in (to the Director's Cut anyway) for Eva Green as Sibylla - TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask who plays political games to ensure the future of both her son and the kingdom, and also spends most of her screen time dressed up like a medieval princess.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Balian's decision not to go along Baldwin and Tiberias' plan leads to [[spoiler:the idiotical Guy taking over the army and sending dozens of thousands men to an absolutely pointless death.]] The viewer might feel a bit miffed that Balian doesn't seem to realize this.

* BetterOnDVD: The theatrical version is a mediocre action film, at best. The Director's Cut edition restores over 45 minutes of plot, and is a far superior political drama/war movie, and explains a lot about why Balian is such an effective leader, and why certain decisions were made in pivotal moments. Notably, Balian's relationship with the Priest at the beginning of the movie is drastically reduced, as the two were actually ''brothers'', and Balian is shown to be pacifistic, simply taking the Priest's verbal and physical abuse at his wife's grave. This makes his later decision [[spoiler: to decline accepting leadership of Jerusalem]] a ''lot'' more consistent, as [[spoiler: he couldn't allow hundreds of knights to be executed if they didn't swear fealty to him]]. Even worse was Sibylla, whose son was ''completely'' excised in the theatrical cut, causing her decision [[spoiler: to agree to be faithful to Guy and allow him to lead Jerusalem]] make absolutely ''no'' sense without that context.

** This isn't the [[{{Film/AssassinsCreed2016}} last time]] Creator/JeremyIrons plays a KnightTemplar.

** The nameless German knight among Godfrey's warriors who manages to keep fighting competently despite taking a crossbow bolt ''[[MadeOfIron through the neck]]''.

* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Even in its tarnished form, it was better received in European and Middle Eastern/African territories.

* MemeticBadass: Saladin. He has a [[{{Egopolis}} province named after him]] in UsefulNotes/{{Iraq}}. Which might be ironic, given that he was a Kurd.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Although considered otherwise excellent, the Castilian Spanish dub contained a pair of inexplicable changes of dialogue that weren't so well received. The main might be Saladin's line when Balian threatens to destroy the sacred sites: instead of musing ironically that it may be actually better than Balian fulfilled his threat, in the dub he simply says amusedly that Balian should just hand the city over, thus taking away a lot of the scene's power. Also, the Patriarch's line proposing to convert to Islam and repent later is turned into an indignant refusal to convert to Islam if they dare to ask him to, ironically making the guy a much more heroic character.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Godfrey and his companions, (the unnamed English sergeant played by Creator/KevinMcKidd, the massive German brawler Odo, and the [[BlackVikings Moorish]] Firuz) are rather striking and distinctive characters that are 1) played by incredibly talented actors and 2) give the impression of being a [[BadassCrew hardened group of warriors]] [[HeroOfAnotherStory who've already fought many battles offscreen.]]) Instead of joining Balian on his journey and kicking ass together in the Holy Land, they're almost immediately killed off before they can do much of anything.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Balian's decision not to go along Baldiwn' and Tiberias' plan leads to [[spoiler:the idiotical Guy taking over the army and sending dozens of thousands men to an absolutely pointless death.]] The viewer might feel a bit miffed that Balian doesn't seem to realize this.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Balian's decision not to go along Baldiwn' and Tiberas' plan leads to [[spoiler:the idiotical Guy taking over the army and sending dozens of thousands men to an absolutely pointless death.]] The viewer might feel a bit miffed that Balian doesn't seem to realize this.

** The same can be said for King Baldwin and Saladin, who are considered my many the highlights of the film

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: Although considered otherwise excellent, the European Spanish dub contained a pair of inexplicable changes of dialogue that weren't so well received. The main might be Saladin's line when Balian threatens to destroy the sacred sites: instead of musing ironically that it may be actually better than Balian fulfilled his threat, in the dub he simply says amusedly that Balian should just hand the city over, thus taking away a lot of the scene's power. Also, the Patriarch's line proposing to convert to Islam and repent later is turned into an indignant refusal to convert to Islam if they dare to ask him to, ironically making the guy a much more heroic character.

* CompleteMonster: [[HistoricalVillainUpgrade Guy du Lusignan]] is [[BigBad the head]] of a [[UsefulNotes/TheKnightsTemplar faction of knights]] who chafe at not being allowed to [[BloodKnight make war]] on "the Saracens". Together with his [[PsychoSupporter psychotic sidekick]], [[TheDragon Reynald de Chatillon]], he massacres a Muslim caravan, hoping to provoke war with Sultan Saladin, but is foiled when King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem persuades Saladin to relent and jails Reynald. Following Baldwin's death, Guy frees Reynald and sends him out to waylay and butcher another caravan, this one including Saladin's own sister. When Saladin sends an envoy to request the return of his sister's body, Guy murders the envoy in view of his party then sends his head back to Saladin as a [[WarForFunAndProfit declaration of war]]. Ignoring the advice of those who have fought the Muslims before, [[GeneralFailure Guy]] marches his entire army into the desert without sufficient food or water, damning all those who disagree with this plan as cowards, and gloating about the {{glory|Hound}} he will attain when he bests Saladin. When his army is killed almost to a man, and Reynald executed in front of him by Saladin, Guy refuses to accept any responsibility, [[NeverMyFault blaming everyone but himself]] for the way that things have worked out.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Godfrey and his companions, (the unnamed English sergeant played by Creator/KevinMcKidd, the massive German brawler Odo, and the [[BlackVikings Moorish]] Firuz) are rather striking and distinctive characters that give the impression of being a [[BadassCrew hardened group of warriors]] [[HeroOfAnotherStory who've already fought many battles offscreen.]]) Instead of joining Balian on his journey and kicking ass together in the Holy Land, they're almost immediately killed off before they can do much of anything.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Godfrey and his companions, (the unnamed English sergeant played by Creator/KevinMcKidd, the massive German brawler, and the [[BlackVikings Moorish]] Firuz) are rather striking and distinctive characters that give the impression of being a [[BadassCrew hardened group of warriors]] [[HeroOfAnotherStory who've already fought many battles offscreen.]]) Instead of joining Balian on his journey and kicking ass together in the Holy Land, they're almost immediately killed off before they can do much of anything.

** Creator/EvaGreen (Sibylla) [[spoiler:willingly gives up the throne]] for love. Fast forward to ''{{Series/Camelot}}'' where she stops at nothing to try and become Queen.

** Many people will only recognize Creator/IainGlenn as King Richard the Lion-Hearted after his turn in ''Series/GameOfThrones''.

** Even (or maybe ''especially'') in the poorly-received theatrical cut, Edward Norton's King Baldwin impressed critics and audiences.

** Eva Green (Sibylla) [[spoiler:willingly gives up the throne]] for love. Fast forward to ''{{Series/Camelot}}'' where she stops at nothing to try and become Queen.

** Many people will only recognize Iain Glenn as King Richard the Lion-Hearted after his turn in ''Series/GameOfThrones''.

** Many people will only recognize Iain Glenn as King Robert the Lion-Hearted after his turn in ''Series/GameOfThrones''.

* OneSceneWonder:
** Creator/LiamNeeson shows up for the first 20 minutes and then dies, but he makes the most of it because, again, ''Liam Neeson''.
** The nameless burly soldier who kills four guys with [[DualWielding an axe and sword]] ''after'' taking [[SugarWiki/CrowningMomentOfAwesome a goddamn crossbow bolt through the neck]] only appears in that scene, but leaves a hell of an impression for obvious reasons.

* VanillaProtagonist: Balian, the humble blacksmith, finds himself crusading with much more interesting characters like Godfrey, [[AngelUnaware The Hospitaller]], [[HandicappedBadass King Baldwin]], [[EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench Sibylla]], [[LargeHam Tiberias]] and [[WarriorPoet Saladin]].

* FridgeBrilliance: Sibylla's ImportantHaircut makes a lot more sense if one considers that her original fate was to go to a nunnery after the siege was over. It's also TruthInTelevision: The women of Jerusalem cut their hair in solidarity with the defenders.
** When Balian does the mass knighting, he repeats the exact oath Godfrey gave him except for one thing; he omits the phrase "do no wrong". Why does he do that? Because after seeing the horror of what Guy had caused, he realizes that "doing no wrong" is not always the right choice; his own desire to live up to that oath led him to make a decision that ultimately caused far more harm than anything that would have resulted from the "wrong" action he refused to take. Now acutely aware that this directive is flawed, he chooses not to pass it along.

* BetterOnDVD: theatrical version is a mediocre action film, at best. The Director's Cut edition restores over 45 minutes of plot, and is a far superior political drama/war movie, and explains a lot about why Balian is such an effective leader, and why certain decisions were made in pivotal moments. Notably, Balian's relationship with the Priest at the beginning of the movie is drastically reduced, as the two were actually ''brothers'', and Balian is shown to be pacifistic, simply taking the Priest's verbal and physical abuse at his wife's grave. This makes his later decision [[spoiler: to decline accepting leadership of Jerusalem]] a ''lot'' more consistent, as [[spoiler: he couldn't allow hundreds of knights to be executed if they didn't swear fealty to him]]. Even worse was Sibylla, whose son was ''completely'' excised in the theatrical cut, causing her decision [[spoiler: to agree to be faithful to Guy and allow him to lead Jerusalem]] make absolutely ''no'' sense without that context.

* BetterOnDVD:
** The theatrical version is a mediocre action film, at best. The Director's Cut edition restores over 45 minutes of plot, and is a far superior political drama/war movie, and explains a lot about why Balian is such an effective leader, and why certain decisions were made in pivotal moments.
** Notably, Balian's relationship with the Priest at the beginning of the movie is drastically reduced, as the two were actually ''brothers'', and Balian is shown to be pacifistic, simply taking the Priest's verbal and physical abuse at his wife's grave. This makes his later decision [[spoiler: to decline accepting leadership of Jerusalem]] a ''lot'' more consistent, as [[spoiler: he couldn't allow hundreds of knights to be executed if they didn't swear fealty to him]].
** Even worse was Sibylla, whose son was ''completely'' excised in the theatrical cut, causing her decision [[spoiler: to agree to be faithful to Guy and allow him to lead Jerusalem]] make absolutely ''no'' sense without that context.