FilmSnobReviews

Title: Ben-Hur
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Starring: Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Rodrigo Santoro
Runtime: 2 hrs 5 mins

What It Is: A modern remake of the 1959 Best Picture winner Ben-Hur. It tells the story of Judah Ben-Hur (Huston) who upon the arrival of the Roman in Jerusalem is arrested for conspiring to assassinate Pontius Pilate (Pilou Asbæk). Ben-Hur gets stabbed in the back by a man he once called his brother in his youth the centurion Messala Severus (Kebbell) now Ben-Hur is on a journey to find Messala and show him the iron price for his betrayal. When given the opportunity to race in a chariot against Romes best which just so happens to be Messala. Will Judah grab the vengeance he seeks?

What We Think: This is an awful movie, with awful direction and an even worse third act. Adjectives cannot functionally tell you why this is so bad. Having said that that is why you’re here so let’s take a shot. First off we get a decent enough telling of Judah’s journey from Prince to slave there really isn’t anything bad about this film at this point. it’s the last part of the second and the entire third act that is straight garbage. It goes almost Hallmark Channel with its ending. I wanted to walk, no run and scream at the top of my lungs about how bad a taste this film left me with. It wastes an entire talented cast. Jack Huston, and Toby Kebbell are better than this. So so much better than this.

Our Grade: D-, Dammit I’ve run through 2016 fairly unscathed by the terrible films that have plagued the year. This is ridiculously lousy. Inexcusably bad and it just shows that remaking something doesn’t mean you have to know what you’re doing. What is Timur Bekmambetov doing? Wanted showed he may have some promise but this film coupled with the atrocious Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter really just show that perhaps Wanted was the exception and not the rule.