cinephile-27690 The Charlton Heston movie is one of my favorite Biblical epics. This remake can't compare-in fact the beginning was a little slow, but it's very good in its own right. This story of love and forgiveness is what the world needs today! I went to school with a very non religious kid and he actually went to see this in theaters and liked it!I also personally think that the chariot race was better in this version. It was more heart racing and thrilling.Everyone in the theater was oohing and ow-ing at the effects and painful moments. My Grandma is a Christian but not as devout as I am and she loved it too.The movie can't compare to the original, but it's still a decent movie and worth your time!

shock_wave_1339 This movie was a quick-and-dirty Cliff Notes version of the novel which I have read. The major events from the book were presented but many wonderful supporting characters were left out. Even what was presented was altered from the original novel including the ending. The 1959 version was much better and truer to the novel but even it left out a lot, the novel is very long but a good read.

Neil Welch Rich Jew Judah Ben-Hur is sent to the galleys by Messala, his youthful best friend, because of an attack from his roof during a Roman parade. Escaping after 5 years as a galley slave he seeks to take revenge on Messala by beating him in a chariot race. After the race, the blood from Jesus' crucifixion cures Judah's mother and sister of leprosy and takes the hate from Judah's heart.The danger of a remake is pitching the new film in a place where it is different enough so that it isn't pointless, but captures enough of what made the original work. And the original, here (if one ignores other versions), was a multi-Oscar winning, sprawling Biblical epic. So what Timur (Wanted) Bekmambetov has done here is capture the main story beats, but changed almost everything else.The almost homoerotic jealousy which drove the relationship between Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd in Wyler's epic is, here, replaced by a most unexpected fraternal bromance in which the driving force appears to be Messala's wish to impress Judah's mother (I am deliberately not spoilering a plot element here). This lengthy opening sequence, albeit seasoned with a couple of flash-forwards, gives the story-teling a completely different rhythm to the 1959 version.Visually, there is some good stuff, with production value well on display. Locations, particularly the location which substitutes for Jerusalem, are mostly spectacular (with the exception of the early, rather jarring, appearance of the overly-familiar Vasquez Rocks), the chariot race is well-staged, and the CGI sea battle is more convincing than Heston's toy boats (although, curiously, far less exciting).But there are two areas where the film falls down. One is the script which is, at best, functional, but often rather feeble. And the other is that, with the exception of Rodrigo Santoro's Jesus and Nazanin Boniadi's Esther, none of the performers offer anything beyond photogenic competence. There is nothing to match Heston's sheer presence or Boyd's passionate malice. This film is in an altogether lower key. Even Morgan Freeman's usual gravitas is undermined by his out-of-place American accent.I enjoyed this, especially because it gave me much which I did not expect. But it is not an epic.

rodeab-308-718216 They did a really, good job with this, and I am grateful they did it. If you are expecting anything similar to the Charlton Heston version, you will be immensely disappointed, this takes a different approach, but they did keep the vital stuff. If viewers keep that in mind, it will be a great film.