BEN-HUR (Timur Bekmambetov). 125 minutes. Opens Friday (August 19). See listing. Rating: NN
A recent string of religious movies have been making multiplex collection baskets sing to the heavens. So it was only a matter of time before a studio decided to remake the biggest blockbuster in the Bibles Cinematic Extended Universe (BCEU).
Come on. Lets make that a thing.
Rehashing and condensing the two previous film incarnations, the new Ben-Hur runs 90 minutes shorter than Charlton Hestons epic 1959 spin on Judeo-Christian history. Jack Huston takes the reigns as Judah Ben-Hur, the Jewish prince trying to keep things chill between occupying Roman forces and zealots, who are meant to remind us of todays extremists.
Huston, the grandson of John Huston, is more suited to playing quiet types, like his scar-faced assassin in Boardwalk Empire. He makes for such a bland Ben-Hur that he had me rooting for Messala, the princes adopted brother turned asshole Roman general. Toby Kebbell, a talented actor in need of better roles, gives Messala the right pedigree of bratty rage and anxiety.
None of these guys can really make the melodrama work, probably because director Timur Bekmambetov is far more invested in spectacle than human interaction. So we go through the motions of Messala sending Ben-Hur off to be a slave after a perceived betrayal against the Roman Empire and then the slaves return to exact revenge. All the while Rodrigo Santoros hipster Jesus preaches love not war.
Its all a functional buildup to the chariot race, which is where Bekmambetov delivers. The director who curved bullets in Wanted gets in close to the action something the 1959 version couldnt do with the 70mm cameras.
The trade-off is a less majestic scope for a more visceral thrill not an improvement, but not a cheap imitation either.
