Ben-Hur

Starring: Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Rodrigo Santoro, Morgan Freeman, Nazanin Boniadi, Ayelet Zurer, Pilou Asbaek, Sofia Black-D'Elia
Directed by: Timur Bekmambetov
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
2016

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Judah Ben-Hur (Charlton Heston) is determined to have his revenge after being imprisoned for a crime he did not commit.

Review:

Tim: I'm so angry at this movie. First off, in 2016, did we really need a remake of Ben-Hur? Yes, that movie is over 50 years old, but it's a cinematic landmark. It should have been untouchable. But, if you're going to remake a classic, then you better do it justice. The 2016 version doesn't do it. It doesn't even get remotely close. This is such a dull, toothless, boring film. I found it excruciating to sit through. I didn't care about the characters or the story. I was thankful for whenever a flashy scene was shown because in the utter absence of any substance, I was eager for at least some style. This is a terrible movie and it should never have been made.

The cast is really bad. Jack Huston is continually unimpressive. I'm not sure who thought he could carry this film, but I never cared about his character for a second. He has no charisma and is a marginal actor at best. He didn't commit any heinous crimes here, but his lackluster performance wasn't even close to being good enough. Toby Kebbell continues to make his case for an actor I should hate. After butchering Dr. Doom in the godawful Fantastic Four, he shows up here to help ruin another film. He's okay at best, but seriously not up for the task. I don't know what Morgan Freeman was doing- he usually avoids these utter disasters. The paycheck tripped him up here, because he should be embarrassed for selecting this film. Rodrigo Santoro wasn't bad, but he was firmly caught up in a bad movie.

One of the biggest complaints is that the movie never gives us a reason to care about Judah or Messala, or really any of the characters. We can't identify with them, they mean nothing to us. Director Timur Bekmambetov totally lets the audience down by not helping us to understand and invest in these characters. It feels like we're going through the motions. Who cares about character development when we've got a great action sequence on a ship coming up and that delightful chariot race eventually? This is movie that never builds any momentum because its foundation is so weak. That causes every minute to feel like it's stretched out for five. It makes a two hour movie feel like a twenty hour movie. This is a story that any legitimate movie fan will have already seen, and in significantly better fashion. This movie gives us no reason to want to watch a remake. It's inferior in every shape and form.

I do want to mention the chariot scene, because it's one of the most memorable aspects of the original film and is kind of the crown jewel of this disaster. The visual effects have come a long way, obviously. The chariot battle is probably the highlight of this film, but that's not saying much. It looks decent and is at least mildly entertaining, but it's just so little and far too late. Bekmambetov is good at creating action sequences, so some of these (like the chariot and the ship) look fairly good. The problem is that beneath the surface, there's just nothing there.

Not surprisingly, I hated Ben-Hur. It's a generic, inferior product that shouldn't exist and completely wasted two hours of my life. I'm mad at everyone involved in this production because we deserved better than this.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 4.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Ben-Hur (1959)