Director Ridley Scott is well known for films which contain stunning visual effects; in fact, he's one of the most visually innovative directors of the past generation. He's also sometimes described as the "father of the Director's Cut," a reputation (and a passion) that largely began with his reworking of the 1982 Harrison Ford vehicle Blade Runner in an atmospheric 1992 special director's cut (in 2002, he returned to the film again as he was still not satisfied with the 1992 version; that reshaping of the film has not been released due to legal problems). Given his renown for creating lush, moody, immersive cinematic experiences, it often seems his films are overwhelmed by the visuals, or that critics and audiences see only the visuals at first blush and discount the story beating beneath the gloss.
But the claustrophobic visual tableau of Alien not only established a franchise (not to mention Sigourney Weaver's career); it offered a wonderful normative alternative to the fantastic alien horror audiences were about to experience. The dystopian future of Blade Runner artfully juxtaposes elements of corporate globalization gone mad with a dysfunctional police state, and the smog-ridden, industrial inferno of the Los Angeles of 2019 was portrayed so well that it largely still holds up even twenty years after its initial theatrical release. From the hyper-reality of Black Hawk Down to the mythical qualities of ancient combat in Gladiator, Scott always presents a cinematic feast for the eyes.
Even in some of his lesser efforts, such as the 1987 film Someone to Watch Over Me, he manages to take ordinary reality and alter it; in that film, he turns the penthouse apartment of a socialite into an alien landscape all its own (which it arguably was, to the working class cop called upon to protect her from the mobster who wanted her dead). And then there are films like Black Rain, which is perhaps one of Scott's more underrated films, in which he borrowed from the conventions of film noir and captured a tale of corruption and redemption against the backdrop of Tokyo's rain-drenched, color-saturated streets.
All of which brings us to Kingdom of Heaven, the film which was released earlier this year to lukewarm reviews and a middling reception at the American box office (although it has done much better in worldwide release, and Scott has proclaimed himself quite pleased with the global reaction, especially in Muslim countries, where the film's portrayal of Saladin has been largely embraced). It is spectacle incarnate, offering the huge battle scenes and grand set pieces which he has often used to remarkable advantage. The CGI-enhanced clashes of cultures depicted here rivals the stunning battle sequences of The Lord of the Rings; it just so happens that here, none of the combatants are ugly-looking orcs (there are some, I know, who would suggest that Scott has instead substituted ugly, evil Christians, but by and large I feel that he did, in fact, approach the film with the "evenhanded" approach he has frequently claimed).
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