Brief Story Line
Movie started with the scene in the year AD 33, where Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston - American Hustle, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, etc) and Messala (Toby Kebbel - Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, 2015 Fantastic Four, Warcraft etc) were getting ready for a chariot race and each of them seemed to be very hostile against one another.
Then the story flash back to 8 years before when both Judah and Messala were younger and having the best time of their lives. It was later on revealed that Messala was an orphan Roman who was taken in by Judah's father (who was Jewish) and they became like brothers despite their different background and religion, while living in Jerusalem.
Messala was having feeling towards Judah's sister Tirzah (Sofia Black D'Elia - Project Almanac) but Judah's mother (Ayelet Zurer - Man of Steel, Daredevil TV series etc) disapproved. Meanwhile Judah was having feeling towards their maid named Esther (Nazanin Boniadi - The Next Three Days). Due to the feeling of disapproval and also the passion to be a successful Roman, Messala decided to go and serve Rome empire by becoming a soldier. For 3 years he had gone without any news which made Judah worried.
After 3 years, Jerusalem had been under Rome's oppression and the Zealot were trying their best to fight Rome all the time. Judah being a wealthy prince did not approve of their acts as that would disturb the peace in Jerusalem. During this period, Messala finally came back to Jerusalem and met with Judah again. Messala requested Judah's help being influential people in the town to convince Zealots to hold their peace during Pontius Pilate's visit to Jerusalem. It was clear now that Messala's heart was more supportive of the Rome even though he still loved Tirzah.
When Pontius Pilate made the visit, an incident happened which ultimately change the history. Judah Ben-Hur had been decided guilty and as a punishment must become a slave for the Roman empire and work in the Roman ship. He had to endure the misery for 5 years inside the ship and was separated with his family without him knowing if they were still alive or not.
Meanwhile Messala had became very famous for being the champion of the chariot race and he was adored by the people and also became the favorite of Pilate. So, what actually happened later that would make these 2 brothers became very hateful against each other? You can continue watching the whole story as it unfolds to see until the ultimate chariot race between Ben-Hur and Messala.
End of Brief Story Line
I have heard about this movie which was like a legend back in 1959 and I know that this movie played in Indonesian theater back then as if I am not mistaken my parents had watched it. And I also noted that the movie won so many awards (Oscar & Golden Globe incld best picture and best actor for Charlton Heston) and was a very big box office hit as well. I have no information on what the story was but I know there was the famous chariot race scene. When I look at the movie trailer, I had the impression there would be a lot of fighting and the chariot race was just one of the attractive part. Apparently I was wrong since the chariot race was like the ultimate climax of the movie. So perhaps due to this impression and expectation, I was a little bit disappointed when the war scenes were not a lot.
However, the story of 2 men who were like brothers but later on became enemies were quite nicely told and we could actually understood the reasons. Unfortunately I think this movie did not have the star power to attract people to watch as I understand the movie did not have great success and people gave negative reviews. Perhaps people already had their mind of how the movie should be made when they saw the 1959 version and made the audience could not accept this new remake.
Anyway my views of this movie is that it is pretty decent. The special effects were good. The sound effects were nice. The makeup effect also pretty decent. I especially enjoy the scene in the galley ship (I thought it was awesome) and perhaps a little bit better than the final chariot race itself. It had a feel of watching F1 race, though the special effects were quite ok on that part. Btw the movie was directed by Timur Bekmambetov whose previous works included The Darkest Hour, Wanted and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
For people expecting a movie with lots of war & fighting in Roman period, better not watch this one. It's much better if you watch the likes of Gladiator (with Russel Crowe the main star). Oh this movie also had the performance of the veteran Morgan Freeman as an African Sheik and Rodrigo Santoro as Jesus.
So if I have to describe this movie, I would say that this was a drama with some actions and some brief biblical message of love and sacrifice.
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Note:
This movie was adapted from the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ written by Lew Wallace back in 1880 (yes I did not get the year wrong, it was that old). According to internet, the book had been adapted to silent movies in 1907 and 1925 plus of course the 1959 version and an animated version in 2003. So the 2016 version is the fifth version which I think is rather too much and unfortunately did not provide a great value to cinema lovers.
Then the story flash back to 8 years before when both Judah and Messala were younger and having the best time of their lives. It was later on revealed that Messala was an orphan Roman who was taken in by Judah's father (who was Jewish) and they became like brothers despite their different background and religion, while living in Jerusalem.
Messala was having feeling towards Judah's sister Tirzah (Sofia Black D'Elia - Project Almanac) but Judah's mother (Ayelet Zurer - Man of Steel, Daredevil TV series etc) disapproved. Meanwhile Judah was having feeling towards their maid named Esther (Nazanin Boniadi - The Next Three Days). Due to the feeling of disapproval and also the passion to be a successful Roman, Messala decided to go and serve Rome empire by becoming a soldier. For 3 years he had gone without any news which made Judah worried.
After 3 years, Jerusalem had been under Rome's oppression and the Zealot were trying their best to fight Rome all the time. Judah being a wealthy prince did not approve of their acts as that would disturb the peace in Jerusalem. During this period, Messala finally came back to Jerusalem and met with Judah again. Messala requested Judah's help being influential people in the town to convince Zealots to hold their peace during Pontius Pilate's visit to Jerusalem. It was clear now that Messala's heart was more supportive of the Rome even though he still loved Tirzah.
When Pontius Pilate made the visit, an incident happened which ultimately change the history. Judah Ben-Hur had been decided guilty and as a punishment must become a slave for the Roman empire and work in the Roman ship. He had to endure the misery for 5 years inside the ship and was separated with his family without him knowing if they were still alive or not.
Meanwhile Messala had became very famous for being the champion of the chariot race and he was adored by the people and also became the favorite of Pilate. So, what actually happened later that would make these 2 brothers became very hateful against each other? You can continue watching the whole story as it unfolds to see until the ultimate chariot race between Ben-Hur and Messala.
End of Brief Story Line
I have heard about this movie which was like a legend back in 1959 and I know that this movie played in Indonesian theater back then as if I am not mistaken my parents had watched it. And I also noted that the movie won so many awards (Oscar & Golden Globe incld best picture and best actor for Charlton Heston) and was a very big box office hit as well. I have no information on what the story was but I know there was the famous chariot race scene. When I look at the movie trailer, I had the impression there would be a lot of fighting and the chariot race was just one of the attractive part. Apparently I was wrong since the chariot race was like the ultimate climax of the movie. So perhaps due to this impression and expectation, I was a little bit disappointed when the war scenes were not a lot.
However, the story of 2 men who were like brothers but later on became enemies were quite nicely told and we could actually understood the reasons. Unfortunately I think this movie did not have the star power to attract people to watch as I understand the movie did not have great success and people gave negative reviews. Perhaps people already had their mind of how the movie should be made when they saw the 1959 version and made the audience could not accept this new remake.
Anyway my views of this movie is that it is pretty decent. The special effects were good. The sound effects were nice. The makeup effect also pretty decent. I especially enjoy the scene in the galley ship (I thought it was awesome) and perhaps a little bit better than the final chariot race itself. It had a feel of watching F1 race, though the special effects were quite ok on that part. Btw the movie was directed by Timur Bekmambetov whose previous works included The Darkest Hour, Wanted and Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
For people expecting a movie with lots of war & fighting in Roman period, better not watch this one. It's much better if you watch the likes of Gladiator (with Russel Crowe the main star). Oh this movie also had the performance of the veteran Morgan Freeman as an African Sheik and Rodrigo Santoro as Jesus.
So if I have to describe this movie, I would say that this was a drama with some actions and some brief biblical message of love and sacrifice.
Happy watching!
Mike's movie moments rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Note:
This movie was adapted from the novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ written by Lew Wallace back in 1880 (yes I did not get the year wrong, it was that old). According to internet, the book had been adapted to silent movies in 1907 and 1925 plus of course the 1959 version and an animated version in 2003. So the 2016 version is the fifth version which I think is rather too much and unfortunately did not provide a great value to cinema lovers.
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