Have to agree, this Scott film didn't even get close to being another "Gladiator". Everything that was real to being human, which a viewer could relate to in Gladiator, (the evil emperor,the burning desire for just revenge, the passions of the man with his losses and his triumphs, his role as adopted son,friend and leader, etc.)was lost in "Kingdom".
Pondering on it, I first thought the cause was a bad screenplay. At times it was so formula. And the words coming out of the actors' mouths, how lofty and sometimes highbrow..."A king does not kill another king." It was as if everyone wanted to believed what they were espousing, but there was no tension, no sense of fear, no rousing inner spirit to gives way to moving speeches, those whichh touch the human emotions of the other characters, there wasn't even any fanatical passion (on either warring side, Christian or Muslim) before, during or after their bloody battles.
Wish it had been a better film, I went to see it wanting to be inspired as I was at Scott and Crowe's collaboration of Gladiator.