Ben-Hur (2016)

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

It was a great movie, it was easy to follow with the events! I love the way they showed us how it all began, how he thought that he had everything and lost it all but then found so much more. When I understood that the man was Jesus I got goosebumps, it was a very smart way to show us all the historic events of that time. I have to say my sister and me were left teary-eyed with the ending of Jesus, it was very emotional and respectfully done. After all, love found a way to win...again!

I'm no movie expert by any means, but can I just say that I really loved this movie? I think you'll need to know a bit about the politics in the time of Jesus Christ to totally get what is going on (but hey, there's not a single movie in which you don't need to know something about life to understand). Why do I love this movie? Well, for one, I'm a HUGE horses fan, and there are some lethally beautiful equines in this film. Ja, I'm half- serious here because a chariot gets wrecked and the horses are crashing through the tents and all that jazz. Secondly, I love how Jesus isn't the main feature (read: doesn't get all the screen time) but it shows how his actions and message impact people on multiple levels, even indirectly. You see him dip in and out of the story line.I also really love the tension between the brothers in terms of beliefs, station, choices, and paths of life. The characters are conflicted over family, love/romantic partner, politics, government, and duty.The character portrayal wasn't 100%, but it was fun to watch Morgan Freeman feature in this film (as a rich merchant or chariot race- betting person) who definitely delivers. There's a lot of drama (so not low-key) especially between the two brothers and the set for this movie was Really nice. Note the capital R. The armor looked hand-crafted and the cloaks they wear are top-notch... not that I'm a cloak expert or anything but you catch my drift!Overall, an excellent movie with reconciliation and forgiveness being offered at the last bit. Good music and lots of excitement, especially if you enjoy watching coliseum-type things.

To me, and quite a number of others, the definitive 'Ben-Hur' version (also the best known) will always be the one from 1959 starring Charlton Heston and directed by William Wyler, a film that epitomises the term epic in every sense and in many ways iconic. A very strong case can also be made for the 1925 silent version, a huge achievement in its day and awe-inspiring in its spectacle.Unfortunately, this cannot be said for this 2016 version of 'Ben-Hur', nowhere near in the same league as the other two, pretty much insulting to them and the source material, and a mess of a film in its own right. Judging it as a film on its own, a lot of it is disastrously executed and a few good things only just about salvages it from being bottom of the barrel. It's not one of the worst remakes like 'Psycho', 'The Wicker Man', 'Rollerball', 'Ghostbusters' and 'Stepford Wives' to name examples, but to me it's down there with the most pointless and one where one questions "what was the need".Its least bad assets are some nice scenery, the sea battle scene that delivers on the tension and excitement that is severely lacking elsewhere and Jack Huston. Huston may not be as imposing or as charismatic as Heston especially, but he cuts a dashing figure and brings a quiet dignity to the title role and at least tries to give some likability. Elsewhere, 'Ben-Hur' is a failure.Visually, only the scenery is halfway decent. It is however wasted by the film constantly being shot in a far too dark and murky way, chaotic cinematography and editing that looks as though it was done on a on-its-last-legs bacon slicer. The CGI is excessive, feels shoe-horned in and gives even more of an inept video game look. Even the costumes look cheap and very anachronistic to boot.Sea battle apart, the action is undone by clumsy and chaotic choreography/staging, director Timur Bermambetov (directing throughout in a lifeless fashion, highly suggestive that he was not right for the material and clearly had badly misinterpreted it) taking it too far with the brashness and grit and by such a cheap visual look. The chariot race, brilliantly done in the 1925 film and iconic in the 1959 one, is too murkily shot, too choppily edited and too brash to be remotely exciting.Was not expecting music on the same level as one of a kind Miklos Rozsa, but this aspect was not only uninspired and forgettable it completely jars with the period and like Marco Beltrami had forgotten what kind of film he was scoring for. It's not the only thing that fails to gel. Failing even more are the forced and heavy-handed religious and cultural elements and especially one of 2016's most cringe-worthy, embarrassingly out of place and pointless scenes in Jesus' epilogue.'Ben-Hur' is very poorly written, with lots of melodrama and awkwardness and no heart or intrigue. The story really struggles to find its own identity and brings forth few ideas of its own. The famous scenes incorporated are completely diminished generally in impact, thanks to the visual ineptitude, being far too brash and breakneck in pace and the over-emphasis on the gritty tone. There is nothing epic here, instead one isn't ever entirely sure whether to consider it a completely soulless biblical drama or a completely humourless parody of 'Life of Brian'.Regarding the cast, near-uniformly poor. Excepting Huston, who still isn't particularly great. Toby Kebbell fails to bring much threat or complexity to Messala, who is more stock than menacing or conflicted. The scenes between him and Huston are too soap-operatic to be believable. Simonides and Quintas are so mishandled in screen time (under-utilised) and development (one-dimensional) that the point of them being there is questioned. Faring worst are Rodrigo Santoro, trying too hard as Jesus in an interpretation so bizarre and out of kilter it was like he accidentally wandered into the wrong film, and the normally dependable Morgan Freeman looking like he wasn't even trying.Overall, a mess with a lot of elements executed disastrously. There is definitely far worse out there but this was near-incompetent stuff with a few small salvageable elements. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I am a huge fan of the original Ben-Hur movie but did think it was a bit outdated. When I heard a new version was being made I was waiting in anticipation. And I'm not one of those people that thinks the original version was the best and difficult to surpass. But this movie is so bad in terms of casting, script, storyline and cinematography, I need to warn any potential viewers to stay away. I tried to watch this on the plane, TV and gave it one last chance on my business travel in my hotel room. I was that desperate to like this movie. But I could not stand watching this for more than 5 minutes at a time. I rarely ever say this but this is one of the worst movies I have ever seen.