I saw "Ben-Hur", starring Jack Huston-Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, The Longest Ride; Toby Kebbell-Warcraft, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes; Rodrigo Santoro-The 33, The Last Stand and Morgan Freeman-London Has Fallen, Ted 2.
This is a remake. And not the first one, either. There was a silent movie in 1925, the Charlton Heston 1959 classic, a Broadway play and even a TV mini-series. Most people I know, have fond memories of the Charlton Heston version-I don't think I've seen any of the other ones. This one is pretty good but changes a few things. Jack/Ben_Hur is a rich prince with Toby as his adopted half brother. They were best friends growing up but as adults, they grew apart. Toby leaned towards the domineering Romans and goes off to join the army. When circumstances cause the brothers to cross paths again, Toby is in charge of security to the Roman leaders. When an assassination attempt on one of those leaders points to Jack-who is innocent, by the way-Toby has Jack sent away to be imprisoned as a rowing slave on a Roman ship for the rest of his life. He escapes and meets Morgan, an African gambler/entrepreneur that likes to bet on chariot races, a popular Roman pastime because of the lording it over the peasants thing. Guess who the Roman's best racer is? If you guessed Toby, you are right. Jack thinks this would be a good chance to get his revenge. The chariot races look pretty good and I don't see how no animals were hurt making the movie-some of the crashes looked lethal. Rodrigo is playing Jesus and he tries to convince Jack to turn the other cheek and have forgiveness for his brother, in a non- violent way, of course. There are religious undertones throughout the movie but it is only in light touches, it's not like they are just preaching a Sunday morning sermon. It's rated "PG-13" for violence and disturbing images and has a running time of 2 hours & 4 minutes. It is a descent remake but I don't think I would buy it on DVD. It would be good as a rental.
This is a remake. And not the first one, either. There was a silent movie in 1925, the Charlton Heston 1959 classic, a Broadway play and even a TV mini-series. Most people I know, have fond memories of the Charlton Heston version-I don't think I've seen any of the other ones. This one is pretty good but changes a few things. Jack/Ben_Hur is a rich prince with Toby as his adopted half brother. They were best friends growing up but as adults, they grew apart. Toby leaned towards the domineering Romans and goes off to join the army. When circumstances cause the brothers to cross paths again, Toby is in charge of security to the Roman leaders. When an assassination attempt on one of those leaders points to Jack-who is innocent, by the way-Toby has Jack sent away to be imprisoned as a rowing slave on a Roman ship for the rest of his life. He escapes and meets Morgan, an African gambler/entrepreneur that likes to bet on chariot races, a popular Roman pastime because of the lording it over the peasants thing. Guess who the Roman's best racer is? If you guessed Toby, you are right. Jack thinks this would be a good chance to get his revenge. The chariot races look pretty good and I don't see how no animals were hurt making the movie-some of the crashes looked lethal. Rodrigo is playing Jesus and he tries to convince Jack to turn the other cheek and have forgiveness for his brother, in a non- violent way, of course. There are religious undertones throughout the movie but it is only in light touches, it's not like they are just preaching a Sunday morning sermon. It's rated "PG-13" for violence and disturbing images and has a running time of 2 hours & 4 minutes. It is a descent remake but I don't think I would buy it on DVD. It would be good as a rental.