I went to see the movie BEN HUR 2016, a remake of the 1959
classic which was a remake of a 1929 silent classic. The movies were based on
an 1880 novel by Lew Wallace called: BEN HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST. The novel
was a huge success in its day even getting blessed by Pope Leo XIII.
Yes, Jesus does play a role in these movies but he is not
the main man or even the main story BUT the religiously biased producers did
try to inject their religiosity into the movie at every turn which was annoying.
It is hard to review a remake especially when you have seen
the original and cannot help but compare the two.
I did not like this movie mainly because it disappointed me;
my expectations were just too high.
The story was disjointed and characters were not developed
sufficiently enough for us to care about any of them, especially the women.
What makes a movie great is obviously a compelling story
with a hero and a really bad, bad guy; in this movie the bad guy was someone
you felt sorry for; his evilness was compromised.
There were no romantic interests and after a while I could not
tell one woman from another.
The main character Judah Ben Hur was played by an actor who
I remember very well from his role in Boardwalk Empire; I kept seeing him in
that role throughout the movie because he sounded just like that character he played
in Boardwalk Empire.
The chariot race was well done but since the hatred between
the two rivals was compromised, it was just a race.
The ending also sucked because it was a feel good ending, a
kumbaya moment, instead of a satisfying ending where good won out over evil.
The song at the closing was just stupid and totally did not fit the story line.
The fact that this movie bombed right out of the gate has me
puzzled. I though the subject matter as well as the historic era (Roman) would
have attracted at least a crowd to the first showing after which word of mouth
would have killed it; but it did not. Is it just me and my wife that love a
good Biblical type story? I noticed that most people watching the movie with us
were old.
Oh well, they blew way over $100 million in making the movie
and in the first weekend it made a paltry $11 million and came in 5th
even behind The Weiner (sausage) Story.
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