At the last minute I was unable to attend the Ben-Hur preview so my dear friend AC has taken the blogging reins on this one. Here's her thoughts...
"I went into this film knowing that the update wouldn’t have the intense 50s drama acting and kitschy camp overtones that I love in the original but I did expect a shiny new version with the same substance. There wasn’t and I was disappointed. It’s a good story and well told in the original but it got lost felt and rushed in this version. The story is of Judah Ben-Hur a Jewish prince who has a Roman adopted brother, Massala who never feels accepted by his adopted family or by the Romans and goes about trying to prove himself worthy by joining the Roman legions. Judah is accused of treachery to the invading Romans which puts Massala in a pickle and he chooses the Romans, sending Judah to the slave galleys hoping he will die which he nearly does several times. Cue Judah surviving to return to home hell bent on vengeance and finding his loved ones.
Plot aside I knew there were going to be some action coming with the galley ships and the chariot race and while the galley part was good it was over too soon and therefore didn’t make the impression it needed to. But the chariot race was excellent! Everything you want in a chariot race; speed, strategy, blood lust, horrible deaths, wheels smashing everywhere. It was awesome, I loved it. And it will make you want to buy a white horse, 4 of them in fact.
Then there is the matter of the Christian story which runs alongside Ben Hur’s story. The scenes with carpenter Jesus felt like they were jammed in and some were comical, I actually laughed at one which I felt really guilty about, thank you Catholic upbringing. In the 1950s version the presence of Jesus was more subtle with the audience never actually seeing his face. The Christian scenes felt like one of those biblical re-enactments you had to watch at school around Easter.
The overall theme is of the struggle between revenge and forgiveness and redemption however, there were plot changes made to the original I felt changed the message and one in particular ruined the redemption message a bit and also decreased the amount of leprosy and if you are going to do a movie in Jerusalem in 33AD you need a few more lepers.
All in all, if you haven’t seen the original or haven’t seen it lately then this may be worth it for the chariot race.
I agree with this New York Times review except they wanted more Jesus and I wanted less."
Trailer here. In cinemas now.