Remaking William Wyler's breathtaking, if gargantuan, 1959 adaptation of Lew Wallace's novel Ben-Hur seems like an act of folly. But maybe there's no harm in making another film of the book. After all, Wyler himself was remaking two different silent films, from 1907 and 1925, on the latter of which he worked as an assistant.
The naval battle and the climactic chariot race are still pulse pounding even if Wyler had to settle for matte paintings and miniatures instead of CGI. Wyler was also fortunate enough to have a galvanizing leading man in Charlton Heston and a mesmerizingly creepy villain in Stephen Boyd.
Ben-Hur
78 Cast: Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Rodrigo Santoro, Nazanin Boniadi, Ayelet Zurer, Pilou Asbaek, Sofia Black-D’Elia, Morgan Freeman, Marwan Kenzari, Moises Arias
Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Rating: PG-13, for sequences of violence and disturbing images
Running time: 124 minutes
This time around, Kazakh director Timur Bekmambetov (Night Watch, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) has lots of high tech toys at his disposal. He and screenwriters Keith R. Clarke (The Way Back) and John Ridley (12 Years a Slave) explore some of the political and class issues that ran through A.D. 33, but they have difficulty replicating the adrenaline and emotional pull Wyler seemed to summon at will.
Jack Huston, terrific as a disfigured World War I vet in Boardwalk Empire, is a reasonable choice to step into Heston's sandals as Judah Ben-Hur, but the script is often fuzzy in explaining Judah's motives. Judah seems to act more as if he's hitting cues instead of following his head or his heart. When he gets friendly or mean, it's hard to tell why.
In this interpretation, Judah and Messala (Toby Kebbell) become fierce rivals because they are brothers (Judah's father adopted Roman orphan Messala). While Judah obviously enjoys being the closest thing to royalty a Jew can experience under Roman occupation, Messala is eager to see the world and make up for his biological father's tainted legacy (it's less interesting than it sounds).
When Messala returns from a long absence as a tribune for Roman governor Pontius Pilate, he wants Judah to help him smash the revolt by the Zealots who want a fairer share of Judea's resources and the end of Roman rule. Judah dislikes the Zealots but won't name names.
Messala grows to dislike his brother for his lukewarm support, and when an assassination attempt on Pilate takes place near Judah's balcony, the tribune decides crucifixion is too mild for Judah and sends him to what he hopes will be a slow death rowing galleys.
Naturally, Wallace and the Almighty aren't going to let Judah die. And so we get the chariot race, which anchors any adaption of the story.
Revenge often makes for more powerful storytelling than personal growth. Wallace wrote the novel to lead others to Jesus, but seeing Messala get punished in this life was far more satisfying. Here Bekmambetov downplays the revenge seeking and is more concerned with Judah's redemption than his vengeance. Wallace's novel is, after all, subtitled A Tale of the Christ. Brazilian actor Rodrigo Santoro gets more screen time than his predecessors as Jesus and handles the role with appropriate dignity.
Kebbell certainly looks conflicted, but he lacks the eerie, ravenous quality Boyd displayed so effortlessly in the previous film.
Welshman Hugh Griffith won an Oscar for playing Judah's Arab ally Ilderim in the 1959 version, and today the whitewash casting might seem jarring. Morgan Freeman plays him as a Nubian sheik.
Putting the naval battle and the chariot race in 3-D is also a letdown. The sense of danger the analog version had just didn't translate well to the digital age.
MovieStyle on 08/19/2016