Movie Review: Ben-Hur Is Your Modern Epic
Here's the latest update from the world of Bollywood. We bet you wouldn't want to miss this. Read on for details... Action, emotion, drama – the magnum opus has it all
Ben-Hur is one of the most well known Hollywood classics. This week, the epic’s remake hits theatres. Does it entertain? We find out.
Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston) comes from a rich family in Jerusalem. He is friends and adoptive brother to Messala (Toby Kebbell), an orphan who carries the burden of his father being a traitor. While the two are good friends, their world is not one of peace. Rome comes in the form of Pontius Pilate (Pilou Asbaek) and Jerusalem is not happy with it. Life goes haywire when Judah saves a young rebel and circumstances brand him a traitor, with Messala at the forefront of those who carry out the punishment. How Judah battles the odds forms the rest of the film.
Ben-Hur takes its inspiration from an epic book and film, and this time too, it succeeds in dazzling the audience. The storyline has so much going and the screenplay succeeds in bringing all of it to life in a crisp and concise manner. The politics, the corruption, the spirituality and the sheer dangerous times that the story is set in will definitely connect the audience to the characters.
The Catholic aspect of the film is out there, and the scriptwriters have decided to bring in the aspects of peace, redemption, forgiveness and brotherhood. And even with all that, they succeeded in making the race sequence awesome.
The movie has a big cast but none of the characters seem forced. Even with such great historical characters like Jesus of Nazareth (Rodrigo Santoro) and Pilate riding along, this film is on firm footing.
Huston is a revelation as Ben-Hur and we will be rooting for him come the awards season.
All said and done, Ben-Hur is a brutal retelling of one of the most violent times in human history and the origin of sports competitions, which were basically platforms where the vanquished could defeat the winners in war or vice versa. Because that is what life was about. Either you win or you die.
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