The term “director’s cut” is frequently used to describe hastily reworked extended editions of films that’re included within their home media release. The differences with the version released in theaters are usually not much greater than a few deleted scenes, alternate takes, or moments of sex and violence that were removed to attain a lower MPAA rating. Peter Jackson’s extended editions of The Lord of the Rings trilogy are the exception to the rule, as each installment within his trilogy of J.R.R. Tolkien adaptations were cut down for the sake of more manageable theatrical running times. Nonetheless, the theatrical cuts of each The Lord of the Rings film still operate as effective adaptations, especially for non-book readers who may have less interest in the universe of Tolkien’s imagination.
Director’s cuts are often used as an excuse for filmmakers to defend themselves against criticism, as they can argue that studio meddling prevented the release of their intended vision. Francis Ford Coppola’s recently released The Godfather Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone is much better than the disastrous version of The Godfather: Part III that debuted in 1990, but no one is under the illusion that it was Coppola’s original intention; rather, Coppola grew tired of decades of backlash to his trilogy-capper, and decided to tighten it up in the editing room. Coppola’s other director’s cuts, including One From The Heart and The Cotton Club, suggest his films may have been better received had he taken notes on the first pass.
Perhaps the most embarrassing example in recent years is Zack Snyder’s Justice League, in which HBO Max invested an additional $70 million to allow Snyder to “complete” his Justice League film, which bombed theatrically in 2017. Snyder’s four-hour superhero epic was slightly more coherent than the theatrical cut, which was edited to be more “fun” by replacement director Joss Whedon, but it retained the pacing issues, underdeveloped characters, and laughable religious overtones of the two-hour version. Most hilarious is that Zack Snyder’s Justice League ends with a post-credit teaser for a sequel that will never be made, as Warner Brothers already paid the price after the studio pandered to Snyder’s aggressive fanbase.
Ridley Scott’s notorious for his director’s cuts, as the 87-year-old filmmaker has shown no interest in compromising his instincts. The extended versions of Scott films like The Counselor, Exodus: Gods and Kings, The Martian, American Gangster Black Hawk Down, and Robin Hood offer some interesting pieces of lore that appeal to his fans, but they’re unlikely to change the perspective of anyone who wasn’t impressed the first time around. Scott seems content about having two versions of the film, as he’s never been bothered by backlash; his sharp takedown of Gladiator II critics was an astute analysis of the pompousness of self-proclaimed “cinephiles.”
Scott’s extraordinary director’s cut of his 2005 epic Kingdom of Heaven is such a substantial improvement upon the released version that it should completely revamp its legacy; what was initially dismissed as a lifeless, muddled medieval action picture has become worthy of Scott’s all-time masterpieces, such as Blade Runner, Alien, and the original Gladiator. Although 20th Century Fox may have felt that 144 minutes was an appropriate amount of time to tell a revenge story, 189 minutes was the ideal length for Scott’s contemplative study on the rise and fall of a civilization.
Set during the height of the Crusades in medieval France, Kingdom of Heaven is the story of the blacksmith Balian (Orlando Bloom), who returned to the holy city of Jerusalem after being knighted by his father, Godfrey (Liam Neeson). However, the mythical land his father promised would offer him salvation is at its most vulnerable; the leper King Baldwin IV (Edward Norton) and the withering military strategist Count Tiberias (Jeremy Irons) have fortified the city against the impending attacks of Sultan Saladin (Ghassan Massoud) and his army of Muslim attackers.
The version of Kingdom of Heaven that critics saw in the end of 2005 stuck to Scott’s action scenes, which are completely lifeless without context. While it was criticized for being repetitive, the derivative nature of the conflict was precisely the point Scott had made, as the film ended with a chilling reminder that "nearly a thousand years later, peace in the Kingdom of Heaven still remains elusive.” While heroes are ordained, children are freed, and alliances are forged throughout the power struggle for Jerusalem, there’s no suggestion that it will ever be spared of brutality. What was initially Scott’s boldest work of post-9/11 filmmaking has proven to be one of the most acute examinations of the cyclical conflict in the Middle East.
The issue with Kingdom of Heaven’s theatrical cut is the speed with which it moved through significant portions of time. The cruelest villain in Scott’s film is time; Baldwin’s body is eroded by the inevitability of his illness, the anti-Muslim Templar Knights form their own extremist faction, Balian is strayed further from his father’s mission, and the sitting Queen Sibylla (Eva Green) is forced to bear children who may never know peace. Characters that were minimized are given more than expository roles; Martin Csokas is cunning as the ruthless Potevin knight Guy of Lusignan, Brendan Gleeson is ruthless as the warrior Raynald of Châtillon, and Martin Sheen is given the film’s fatalistic religious sentiments with his understated role as the city’s leading priest.
Scott’s often a much better director of actors than he’s given credit for, and the breathing room allowed by Kingdom of Heaven’s added 45 minutes is evident of his creative casting. Bloom may have once been dismissed as a generic heartthrob, but he’s brilliant as an idealist doomed to become a martyr; Norton is heartbreaking as a King so terrified of his people that he can’t show his face. The epic battles Scott created are among the best in his career, as they’re crafted with a level of practicality that puts modern blockbusters to shame. Those bored by Scott’s endless run of medieval epics should look at Kingdom of Heaven from a different perspective; through the convergence of historical fact and creative license, Scott’s done his own mythmaking.