Ridley Scott Regrets The Theatrical Cut Of Kingdom Of Heaven (As He Should)
The consensus thus far on Ridley Scott's "Napoleon," including from /Film's own Chris Evangelista, is that it feels like the shadow of a greater film — namely, the four-hour cut that Scott has confirmed will premiere on Apple TV+ at a later time. This wouldn't be the first time that such a fate befell one of Sir Scott's historical epics. Let's go back to 2005 when his opus "Kingdom of Heaven" met a muted response.
Set in the late 12th century, the film follows French blacksmith Balian (Orlando Bloom), who joins his long-lost father Baron Godfrey (Liam Neeson) on a quest to Jerusalem. Balian is seeking redemption; his wife died by suicide after the death of their child, denying herself entrance to Heaven, and he then killed the village priest (Michael Sheen) after the man mutilated her corpse. Balian is caught in the middle of power struggles; power-hungry knight Guy de Lusignan (Marton Csokas) breaks peace with the Sultan Saladin (Ghassan Massoud). True to history, Balian winds up leading Jerusalem's forces against a siege by Saladin's army.
"Kingdom of Heaven" is both a hero's journey adventure and a political drama about how virtue and faith can often spur division. 194 minutes was exactly the right runtime to tell such a complex story ... so of course on the first release, the film had 50 minutes cut out, coming in at just under two and a half hours. Thankfully, Scott released his "Kingdom of Heaven" director's cut mere months later, which has been embraced as the true version of the film. For my money, it's one of his best films flat out.
Speaking to Deadline on the "Napoleon" press tour, Scott reiterated that he considers the "Kingdom of Heaven" theatrical edition a mistake.
Why a shorter cut?
In the case of "Napoleon," Scott underlined the abbreviated theatrical version as a matter of practicality:
"It felt like it saves you a lot of turmoil to say, all right, here's the one that we're going to put out in the theaters, but eventually I want to show you my whole vision of 'Napoleon.' Something else comes in to that equation, which I put under the heading of the bum ache factor. How long can you sit in a theater beyond two and a half hours, before you start to get uncomfortable? Three and a half or four hours? [A film] has to be awfully good for you to tolerate three and a half hours."
With "Kingdom of Heaven," Scott said that he similarly wanted to "get the story flying," even though the lost detail turned out to be a net negative. As Scott had said before and reiterated to Deadline, there's one subplot he particularly regrets leaving out of the initial release. For Scott, these missing 17 minutes would've made for a "more meaty" movie. What subplot is it?
When Balian arrives in Jerusalem, it is ruled by King Baldwin IV (Edward Norton), a descendant of Catholic Crusaders from Christendom (medieval Europe) who took the city in the 11th century. However, the good king is a leper. He conceals his condition behind white robes and a metal mask, but it's public knowledge that his days are numbered and a crisis of succession will be imminent.
A mother's love
Baldwin and his sister Princess Sibylla (Eva Green), wife of Guy de Lusignan, want to maintain peace in the Holy Land and fear her hawkish husband taking power. So, Baldwin asks Balian to marry Sibylla and lead Jerusalem after he disposes of Guy. Balian refuses, unwilling to taint his soul. Thus, Baldwin dies and Guy takes the throne.
At least that's how it goes in the theatrical cut. The director's cut ends in the same place but adds a tragic wrinkle where Baldwin's initial successor is his child nephew, the son of Sibylla. Unfortunately, the boy has inherited his uncle's leprosy (as revealed to the audience when he holds his hand over a candle and feels no reaction to his skin burning). Sibylla, who saw her brother's suffering up close, poisons her son to spare him that fate; he dies cradled in her arms.
In the theatrical cut, Sibylla's son never even appears, which weakens her character. In the director's cut, though, she gains depth equal to Balian. Like he did when declining the marriage proposal, she has to make an awful choice. Either let her son suffer but keep Guy off the throne, or grant him a mercy killing and let Guy lead Jerusalem to war. There's no good option, but she decides her responsibilities as a mother come before those as Queen Regent — even if she expresses her love in the most painful way possible.
Balian paved the way for Guy's disastrous rule by pious inaction while Sibylla does so with sinful (if pure-hearted) murder. Her earlier warning to Balian — "There will be a day when you will wish you had done a little evil to do a greater good" — becomes all the more meaningful since she faces an inverted test; do you do a little good if the cost is a greater evil?
Streamlining a story doesn't always improve it
Scott told Deadline that he initially cut the 17 minutes featuring Sibylla's son because they "took that whole story sideways." From a pure plot perspective, they aren't needed for the film to function even if they deepen it. The decision reflects how the theatrical cut of "Kingdom of Heaven" prioritized running through the story, not savoring it. The result was many dismissing the film at first. Had those 50 extra minutes been intact upon debut, then "Kingdom of Heaven" would have had the masterful reputation it deserves right out of the gate.
Now, though, Scott has told Deadline that "[he] shouldn't have" cut the subplot with the leper Prince of Jerusalem and his mournful mother: "Now I watch it and I think, wow, that's good. Pretty good." I wonder if Scott will one day speak about the "Napoleon" theatrical cut with similar regret.
"Napoleon" debuts in theaters on November 22, 2023.