Ben-Hur, done that
Reboot doesn’t top 1959 classic
When Lew Wallace’s 1880 novel Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ was first made into a feature film in 1925, its US$3.9-million budget (and a cast, according to its trailer, of 150,000) made it one of the most expensive films of the silent era. The 1959 remake with Charlton Heston in the title role (as Ben-Hur, not Christ) set a new budget record of $15 million. Yet both pictures made money.
This suggests that the only director capable of completing the story’s victory lap is James Cameron, who no doubt would have spent $400 million and perhaps travelled back in time to shoot in ancient Judea. As it is, we get $100 million and director Timur Bekmambetov, whose last film was 2012’s so-so Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
We also get Jack Huston, who is no Heston: He can’t sell his character’s suffering. The busy plot remains mostly the same. Judah Ben-Hur is a Jewish nobleman in Roman-occupied Jerusalem in the year 25. His adopted brother, Messala Severus (Toby Kebbell), goes off to help expand the empire, and returns years later as an officer, which puts the brothers at odds over how best to rule the city. When a Zealot Ben-Hur has been sheltering almost kills prefect Pontius Pilate (Pilou Asbaek), Messala makes his brother a galley slave. But after five years (Heston’s Ben-Hur suffered only three), he finds his way back as a charioteer with vengeance on his mind.
Fifty-seven years of special effects evolution means the Roman sea battles, which in ’59 looked like bathtub toys flinging flaming Q-tips at one another, are thrilling to behold. And Bekmambetov knows how to shoot (or more precisely, reshoot) a chariot race.
But for all the digitally colliding equines, the newest Ben-Hur adds little to the signature scene. In fact, the greatest improvement is Morgan Freeman as Ilderim, the African chariot owner who plays on the Romans’ pride to secure a spot for Ben-Hur in the big race. But Freeman takes a fairly minor role and turns it into the most charismatic character in the film. Even Rodrigo Santoro as Jesus presents an underwhelm- ing figure when Ben-Hur first meets him.
This latest version adds the miracle of 3D, but that’s not enough to top its illustrious 11-Oscar predecessor. In the box office chariot race, this one finishes second.