Not an epic fail after all

IF you turned your ears westwards on August 19, you may have heard the sound of a bomb. Ben-Hur has turned out to be the flop of the summer in the States, grossing a miserable $24million against a production budget of four times that number.

The big surprise, mind you, is that anyone thought the film would fly given the middling box office takes of such similar, recently-released Biblically-minded epics as Noah, Risen and Gods Of Egypt.

After the staggering achievement of 1959’s Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston, it was a bit like someone deciding to re-record Sgt Pepper.

The reality, however, isn’t all that bad, with director Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Wanted) delivering a generally entertaining swordand-sandals adventure, albeit one let down by some seriously ropey CGI.

Jack Huston and Toby Kebbell play adoptive brothers Judah Ben-Hur and Messala Severus in Roman-occupied Jerusalem. While best friends as youths, the pair fall out as adults with Judah banished from the family home and sent to live as a slave. Eventually, he makes a return with vengeance in mind.

It’s all reasonably entertaining stuff, neatly tapping into the horrors of sibling rivalry while both leads give their all, with able support from Morgan Freeman as a gambler on the chariot-racing circuit. A nod, also, to Ayelet Zurer as Judah’s mum. A pity, then, that the story’s most famous chapter, revolving around that legendary chariot race, fails to set the heart racing, it being a masterclass in choppy editing, cheap effects and too many close-ups, meaning you’re never quite sure what’s going on.

What next... a remake of Citizen Kane? Don’t bet against it.