Word: ridley
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...Ridley Scott's 1,001 Arabian Knights...
...RIDLEY SCOTT HAS A GIFT FOR TAKING old movie ideas and investing them with chic menace--until they not only look new but also upend the whole genre. Alien reinvented the monster movie; Blade Runner set the style for science-fiction dystopia; Thelma & Louise slapped lipstick and a scowl on the face of the buddy movie; Black Hawk Down was a war movie that was all war. Scott doesn't often linger in the same genre; his restless intelligence is ever on the prowl. As he tells TIME, "A friend of mine says, 'Art's like a shark...
...when Sir Ridley sets out to film a story of the Crusades, movie minds perk up. Kingdom of Heaven, written by current hot scripter William Monahan, is set in Jerusalem in 1187, between the Second and Third Crusades. It spins out a clash of personalities, cultures, regions and religions. What fascinates Scott this time is the pure, severe code of the knight. "The knight was the cowboy of that era," he says. "He carried with him degrees of fairness, faith and chivalry--right action. I think right action is what it is really all about...
...probably thinking more of box-office action. When Hollywood looks ahead, it nearly always uses a rearview mirror. What's Next is usually a sequel to What Worked. In this skeptical light, Kingdom of Heaven can be seen as a recipe of familiar faces and tropes. Hire Ridley Scott to direct a burly period epic that pits an obscure hero against historical figures (think Gladiator, then substitute the Holy Roman Empire for the plain old Roman one). Cast Orlando Bloom as a young smithy who boldly challenges the nobility and Liam Neeson as the rebel hero's stalwart father figure...
...sounds very high-minded, and we'll bet Sir Ridley makes that old armor shine like titanium. But if his knights don't enliven your film summer, you can always joust with George Lucas' Jedi in the last installment of a certain other epic...