Ben-Hur Review

PG13:  Sequences of Violence and Disturbing Images

Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures

2 Hrs and 4 Minutes

Cast: Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Morgan Freeman, Rodrigo Santoro, Nazanin Boniadi, Ayelet Zurer, Pilou Asbæk, Sofia Black-D’Elia, with Marwan Kenzari, and Moises Arias

A nobleman, Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston), is falsely accused of treason by his childhood friend and adoptive brother Messala (Toby Kebbell). He survives years of slavery under the Romans and attempts to get revenge by challenging Messala to a grand chariot race while being forever changed after a series of encounters with Jesus.

REVIEW: We all know the classic 1959 film Ben-Hur starring Charlton Heston. Its one of the best films ever. As a matter of fact, Ben-Hur is one of the only VHSes I still own. That’s how classic it is. The movie is just so damn long to pay attention so it took me two parts of viewings to watch it in an entirety. Even the videos are separated in two because the long length can’t fill one VHS. But still just like The Ten Commandments or Citizen Kane, Ben-Hur is a classic film that should NEVER EVER BE REMADE and updated unless you know what you’re doing.

THE GOOD: You can see the appeal for a new Ben-Hur film, because its nice to retell a classic tale for a new generation that doesn’t know of the original. For the most part even when its cheesy, the film thoroughly entertaining and most of the time engaging. There are scenes where you are at the edge of the seat as you journey with Judah’s time of slavery.

The film markets itself as a 3D experience and that’s what it is, a 3D experience. There is an intense sequence when Judah Ben-Hur is a slave who has to row a Roman boat for 5 years. But when the boat catches on fire, Ben-Hur leads his own escape. It is the most thrilling sequence in the film and their use in 3D.

THE BAD: Because we’re in 2016, everything that has to be remade has to be given EPIC BLOCKBUSTER SEQUENCES WITH OVERUSE OF CG. That is exactly what this film is, an epic summer blockbuster which is everything it shouldn’t be. The effects used in the Ben-Hur in 1959 may be dated to us today, but back then was wildly impressive and outstanding. With this, the effects and CG is slick and over the top similar to the effects in 300, but its anything but expensive, its just there. In the end you just go…meh.

The film of course includes Jesus who is played by Brazilian Rodrigo Santoro (who can’t hide his accent in here it’s hysterical) and every time we see him all he just says things from the bible. In the original not only his face wasn’t shown, but had a emotional significance on the original. But here he is the same when the script needs him to be so we can see so many flashbacks on Judah’s relationship on Messala. With this Jesus, we just see him and its no surprise. He’s just there as a wise cool kid always saying the right thing to a point his dialogue is like a segment from Sonic Says.

The story is just a quick speed through the original. The original was 3 hrs and 31 Minutes. This film is barely a little over 2. I’m not one for films over the length of 2 hours, but this could’ve benefitted for being even longer so they could capture the true heart the original has. The movie opens with the chariot race and just tries to build up towards it as the climax, but the film doesn’t get the gist that Ben-Hur is more than the chariot race. The original had scenes from Judah saving a wounded Roman man while drifting to sea to Judah reuniting his family AFTER Jesus’ death. These sequences of humanity are either cut or rearranged from this version. Even after the chariot race (which is filmed poorly from so many zoomed in shots and quick editing), the film doesn’t know how to end so it takes the cheesy happy ending route and ruins everything that made the original special.

LAST STATEMENT: It has heart in the right places and is entertaining for a new generation, but Ben-Hur’s lack of significance in its storytelling only for cheap and cheesy summer blockbuster thrills make this a failure from the start.

Rating: 2/5 | 48%

Super Scene: ROW ROW FIRE! ROW!