Movie Review: Ben Hur

The summer of reboots and remakes that nobody asked for continues with the newest film adaptation of the classic story, “Ben-Hur.”

Set during the time of Christ and Rome’s occupation of Jerusalem, “Ben-Hur” is the story of Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston), a wealthy Jewish prince who grew up with his Roman adoptive brother, Messala (Toby Kebbell). After Messala spends several years in the Roman army, Judah grows disillusioned with Rome’s cruel occupation of Jerusalem and the two friends grow apart. In an act of betrayal, Messala frames Judah for a failed assassination attempt on the Judean governor, Pontius Pilate, and condemns him to slavery aboard a Roman warship. After years of brutal conditions, Judah dedicates his life to returning to Jerusalem in hopes of exacting his revenge on Messala.

The 1959 adaptation of “Ben-Hur” is widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. Its massive budget and box office intake shattered long held records and the film eventually went on to set another record by winning eleven Academy Awards. Since then, this record has only been matched by “Titanic” and “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.” This adaptation featured landmark performances by leading actor, Charlton Heston, and the rest of the cast.

Because the 1959 version is so well-known for being a masterpiece, this newest adaptation bears a great burden when being compared to it. In order for a film remake or re-imagining to be successful, it needs to offer the viewer something different from any previous adaptations and improves upon its predecessors in some way. Unfortunately, 2016’s “Ben-Hur” did absolutely none of that and is a mere shadow of what the 1959 version accomplished.

Bogged down by flat performances, uninspiring cinematography and a porous plotline, “Ben-Hur” just isn’t a very good movie. It did make more of an effort to incorporate racial accuracy in its casting choices, but the performances were not compelling enough to tip the scales away from 1959’s whitewashed cast, who sold their roles with terrific acting. Morgan Freeman’s portrayal of Sheik Ilderim is laughable. Audience members will have a hard time believing his character is authentic because he makes no attempt to deliver his lines in an accent other than his natural American. The film’s plot takes mere seconds to span several years which severely rushing the story past the possibility of honoring the nearly four hour run time of the 1959 adaptation. Classic action sequences are replaced by cheap CGI representations. Nothing about this film is remotely memorable and is quite frankly the most disappointing remake of the summer.

“Ben-Hur” has absolutely bombed in the box office, making only $23 million so far against a $100 million budget that was required to make the movie in the first place. Thankfully, matinee rates allowed me to contribute only $7.50 to that abysmal figure, which is $7.50 more than it deserves. Please, don’t pay to see this film, as it might actually convince the big Hollywood studios to stop remaking classic films that I’ve loved since my childhood. Here’s hoping for better movies later on this year.

–edcollins270@gmail.com