Ben-Hur

10/21/2016

Last time I watched the Ben-Hur with Charlton Heston the thought did not cross my mind that perhaps the world needed another version of the story directed by the guy who brought us Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and that weird movie where they make bullets bend. Anyway, the Heston version is one of my favorite movies. I saw it when I was 8 and two times when I was about 20. I love it and quote it all the time. But this is not a review of that version because (surprise!) it is not that version. This is a review of the 2016 version and I don't feel it is fair to give this movie a bad rating simply because it was an unnecessary remake. In case you are wondering, this is the sixth version of Ben-Hur. The story follows Judah Ben-Hur, a Jewish prince in Jerusalem at the time of Christ,

12/14/2016

**They've grown up together and later turned up to each other.** I had seen the old film and I liked that. So remake means we expect nothing less than a visual spectacular and this film had them at its best, including many more great features, but the real stars are missing. It was a let down without any notable performances. Besides, the idea of upgrading the story was good, though not everyone going to like that. Particularly the one who loved the old film or the versions. The length is justified. For the kind of story the film narrates, the pace was very good. So for me this is not a bad flick, but just some key features missing like I said the star value. For the first timers, like today's generation, this film might work, but for the others most probably not. And the end was dis

7/4/2021

**Booooooring** As with most major productions, "Ben-Hur (2016)" gets an extra star for production value. Bad camera, unlikable characters, ugly costumes, this film has it all. Early on the two brothers are introduced, who will have their biblical vendetta throughout this movie. Clearly the adopted one is supposed to be the bad guy, while the viewer is encouraged to root for the Jew. But questionable decision making of the 'hero' paired with the comical anti-Semitism which permeates America is going to bring the audience over to the side of the scarred underdog, whose name is not in the title. This movie would have been great, if it had ended with the arrest of the rich fool, who harbored a fanatic in his home and didn't even have the good sense to guard him, or the variety of

1/20/2023

**What is this crap??** I was quite curious to see this film given that the 1959 version is one of my favorite films, and a film that, much more than a piece of entertainment, is a historical document, a culturally relevant piece, worthy of preservation and memory. When I finished watching it, I was seriously thinking that this could only be a joke or a parody. The 1959 film will remain the definitive version, and if anyone wants something more up-to-date, I can recommend the 2010 TV miniseries. The film, directed by Timur Bekmambetov, is a piece of garbage. I won't waste my time talking about the script because almost everyone knows the story. What I can, however, say is that this film failed to honor the original material, nor its very noble predecessors in cinema, just for the alm