Ridley Scott’s ‘Kingdom of Heaven’ Now Available To Stream on Hulu

Kingdom of Heaven, the historical epic by Ridley Scott starring Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson, has been added to the streaming service Hulu. Starting Jul. 1, fans of Scott’s diverse filmography are able to stream the divisive drama that was initially panned by critics upon release. Other titles being added to Hulu’s library include The Abyss, The Day After Tomorrow, Flight Of The Phoenix, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy.

The film also stars Eva Green, David Thewlis, Jeremy Irons, Edward Norton, Michael Sheen, Brendan Gleeson, and Marton Csokas. It was written by William Monahan, famous for his work in Scott’s Body of Lies, The Departed, and Edge of Darkness. The film follows crusader Balian of Ibelin as he tries to defend the Kingdom of Jerusalem from Saladin. Per the Rotten Tomatoes synopsis of the film:

Still in grief over his wife’s sudden death, village blacksmith Balian (Bloom) joins his long-estranged father, Baron Godfrey (Neeson), as a crusader on the road to Jerusalem. After a perilous journey to the holy city, the valiant young man enters the retinue of the leprous King Baldwin IV (Norton), which is rife with dissent led by the treacherous Guy de Lusignan (Csokas), who wishes to wage war against the Muslims for his own political and personal gain.

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Upon release, Kingdom of Heaven had a lukewarm response from audiences as well as critics. At the box office, it failed to make an impact. The film only made over $218 million worldwide from its massive $130 million production budget, and the critical reception was overwhelmingly negative. Today, it sits at 40% on Rotten Tomatoes, but the audience score is notably higher at 72%.

Scott blamed the poor reception on the extensive cuts the studio made to make the film more appealing to general audiences (the original cut was deemed too long). He felt the essence of the story, and the tone of the original cut, had been lost by the final theatrical edit. Fortunately, this was fixed in the aftermath of what many consider to be one of Scott’s biggest flops.

One of the Occasions in Which a Director’s Cut Is Actually a Much Better Movie

Kingdom of Heaven was originally released in May 2005. However, in December of the same year, Scott was able to release the Director’s Cut of the film, an extended version of the theatrical edit that’s famously better than the original. It even drove critics to re-evaluate the film, and some completely changed their perception of Scott’s epic.

The Director’s Cut of Kingdom of Heaven is classically considered a better version of the movie, but this version is rarely available to stream (the version on Hulu is the Theatrical Cut). Your best chance at finding the Director’s Cut is to search around for the four-disc Special Edition DVD box set that was once sold. This box set includes the Director’s Cut and the Roadshow Director’s Cut, with the latter having a slightly longer running time because it includes roadshow elements like an overture and an intermission.

Source: Hulu

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