'Ben-Hur' (2016) Review

Ben-Hur (2016) tells the classic faith based story of Judah Ben-Hur, his descent and betrayal at the hands of his adopted brother and Judah's quest for revenge only to find forgiveness instead. The 2016 adaptation of Ben-Hur is the fifth adaptation of Lew Wallace's novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of Christ, the most famous adaptation being the Best Picture winning Ben-Hur (1959). My primary thought when I watch a remake or reboot or new adaptation of something is "What purpose does this new version serve the original material?" However, this time around I will have to admit to have not ever seeing the 1959 Ben-Hur or any adaptation for that matter, but I am curious despite it's 3 hour 44 minute runtime.

With that being said, it seemed clear that Ben-Hur (2016) was made purely for financial reasons. Ben-Hur fluctuates in quality since the first half of the film is a doldrum but around the midway point the film receives an injection that energizes the material by leaps and bounds leading to an entertaining finale. Director Timur Bekmambetov and cinematographer Oliver Wood frame incomprehensible hand-held shaky close-ups amidst the action and even scenes of straightforward dialogue.

When the film's budget is $100 M, they should be able to afford a camera rig or tripod at the very least but for some reason the minds behind the camera thought handheld would be a better choice. The thing that makes it all the more frustrating is that the chariot racing sequence is exhilarating, well shot and probably the best scene of the entire film. The lead-up to the race slowly raises the quality of story and filmmaking as the film finally finds itself.

The production design and costuming are terrific, exemplifying the essence of what I believe ancient Jerusalem would look like, with one exception, Morgan Freeman's absurd wig. Seeing Freeman walk around with dreadlocks is one of the most ridiculous things I've seen recently but as the film's runtime wore on it didn't stick out as much as it did at the start.

A weak point of the film is without a doubt it's screenplay from writers Keith R. Clarke and John Ridley, because the dialogue is sub-par and frankly the narrative uninteresting for the first half. The reason I found the film boring is not only that it lacked energy. but that the characters are thinly written and I didn't really care about the characters so when tragedy falls I wasn't impacted whatsoever. The duo do however succeed in regards to their overarching messages about forgiveness and that's greatly helped by the inclusion of Jesus. Thanks to the lackluster script though, the actors don't come off as strongly as they could have otherwise.

Jack Huston's Judah Ben-Hur lacks charm making it difficult to sympathize with his character as he endures trials and tribulations but I was impressed with his turn for the second half of the movie. Toby Kebbell comes off a little one-note as Messala, the benevolent brother turned fiendish foe, but he does brandish the persona well thanks to his dynamic opposite Huston's Ben-Hur. Morgan Freeman didn't seem to be putting forth much effort in his portrayal of Ilderim but he's fine in the role, regardless of whether he's in it for the paycheck or not. Rodrigo Santoro paints a compassionate portrayal of Jesus but he has brief screen time, interspersed where he services the story.

For those interested in the film I can promise that the chariot race is entertaining and the message about forgiveness is valuable but there's little else to relish in since it has a sluggish first act, the cinematography is a mess, and the performances do little to elevate the sloppy script. In conclusion, Ben-Hur isn't really worth watching.

Film Assessment: D