Just watched the movie last night. First, let me say I have a graduate minor in history. I know this movie is historically incorrect.
But I still enjoyed it. ((Guilty shrug)) I have no problem with making Saladdin a smart, honorable guy (uh, he was a bit more blood-thirsty than that, really, but that's never stopped Hollywood before). I have no problem with making the Crusades a bad thing. They were a bad thing, and though you can't blame all the poor guys who went to fight for the glory of God, you sure can blame the greedy misguided idiots who sent them in the first place. Religious fanatics of any stripe are reprehensible.
But this movie reminds me of old Hollywood epics, and I liked that. It has the pagentry of Cleopatra and Ben Hur, and a couple of Shakespearean moments that almost seem cribbed from Henry V. “I am what I am,” says one guy. “Someone's gotta be.” For some reason, this reminded me of Ancient Pistol.
Over all, a decent Hero's Journey type movie, in spite of some stretching of credulity in places and a couple of clunky transitions. Two slippahs up.