In 1184 France, a humble blacksmith named Bailian (Orlando Bloom) mourns silently over his dead wife and child. A famous knight on the way to the Crusades (Liam Neeson) stops by to let the young man know he is his son. After Bailian kills a priest for badmouthing his dead wife, he joins his dad and sets off for Jerusalem searching for redemption and to make sure his wife has a place in heaven.

Once in the Holy Land, Bailian is charged by his dying dad with the responsibility of protecting the innocent and Jerusalem. Local politics pit the occupying Christian government against Arabs and Bailian is caught in the middle of the warmongers and the peaceniks when he falls for the sad wife of an evil knight who would just love it if Bailian would kill her hated hubby.

Okay, Orlando as a macho dude in armor, what's not to like? Regrettably, a lot. Although Bloom does a admirable job of growing up and appearing quite manly as reluctant hero Bailian, you just aren't given enough character development in this film to care. From what the stars and director Ridley Scott say, a lot of the character scenes were left on the cutting room floor and will appear in a longer director's cut on the DVD but hey, we're paying to see this film now!