Kingdom of Heaven (2005)

More4, 9pm

A beefed-up Orlando Bloom tests his action hero credentials in Ridley Scott’s spectacular Crusades epic. Bloom plays a French blacksmith who journeys to Jerusalem to witness the clash between Christians and Muslims, leading him to spout pointedly topical platitudes about equality and tolerance. It features some impressive battle scenes and a fine cast, including Liam Neeson and Edward Norton. But Bloom is too bland a hero, while Scott’s simplistic message is no more subtle here than in his latest Middle East thriller Body of Lies. (145min)

Far and Away (1992)

ITV3, 10pm

Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman were Hollywood’s hottest superstar couple when they co-starred together in Far and Away, a visually ravishing but shallow historical saga from the director Ron Howard. Fleeing poverty and oppression in 19th-century Ireland, Cruise’s tenant farmer elopes to America with Kidman’s rebellious heiress. Romance inevitably blossoms, but the past catches up with them during a climactic land rush in Oklahoma. The last film to be shot in the painterly 65mm format, Howard’s blockbuster fairy-tale is a feast for the senses, but not the brain. (140min)

Mad Dog and Glory (1993)

ITV1, 11.45pm

The curiosity value in this low-key Chicago gangster comedy is that Robert De Niro and Bill Murray switched their intended roles, so De Niro became an awkward police forensics expert and Murray a loudmouth Italian-American godfather. After accidentally saving a mobster’s life De Niro’s shy boffin, cheekily nicknamed “Mad Dog”, is rewarded with the services of Uma Thurman’s sassy call girl. With its droll script and understated acting, Mad Dog and Glory is let down only by its final surrender to hackneyed Hollywood sentiment. (97min)

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