Review: 'Ben-Hur' falls short

Judah (Jack Huston) in “Ben-Hur.” (United International Pictures)

Secret ending? No.

Running time: 123 minutes (~2 hours)

“Ben-Hur” is a historical action drama that’s based on the novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ,” and is the fifth film adaptation of the story. It revolves around a Jewish prince’s escape from slavery to seek revenge on the man who condemned him to such a fate. It stars Jack Huston (Judah Ben-Hur), Morgan Freeman (Sheik Ilderim), Toby Kebbell (Messala), Nazanin Boniadi (Esther), and Rodrigo Santoro (Jesus). It is rated PG13.

The title alone conjures up images of an epic saga of revenge and redemption, and it’s inevitable that viewers will compare “Ben-Hur” and its Academy Award-winning predecessor.

A word of advice. Don’t.

While it may have benefitted from high production values, little attention has been paid to the script, resulting in a film that can hardly stand on its own merit. It’s a mess of poor decisions, and falls short of being the great film that was promised to us.

Ben-Hur and Sheik Ilderim (Morgan Freeman) in “Ben-Hur.” (United International Pictures)

Highlights

High production values

Well, the costumes and make-up are easy on the eyes, and show evidence of mindful design and good aesthetics. The physical and digital aspects of the sets are blended into a seamless whole, and when viewed in 3D, truly give the sensation that you’re in a slave galley or at a colosseum. This is perhaps the part of the film that does the most justice to the source material.

Messala (Toby Kebbell) in “Ben-Hur.” (United International Pictures)

Letdowns

Vomit-inducing cinematography

Don’t watch this in 3D. The shaky shots and violent lurches will have you sick in the first few minutes. The film overuses hand-held camera shots that focus more on the minutiae of the set pieces than telling you what’s happening. It’s certainly atmospheric, but you have no sense of location or where everyone is in relation to one another. It’s a wild ride with no substance to show for it.

Messala is justified in his actions

The problem with this script is that Judah’s (Jack Huston) stupidity completely justifies what Messala (Toby Kebbell) does. The antagonist has his hands tied because of what Judah does, and there’s no way to extricate his brother from his predicament. Judah himself carries the idiot ball so well that you wonder how he managed to even get this far in life. Ironically, you identify more with Messala than Judah, because it’s just so frustrating to see Judah ignore good advice and go on to make increasingly inane decisions.

Cliche-ridden dialogue

You’ll snort out loud at the hammy lines the actors have to spout. It’s not dialogue, it’s just random cliches thrown together to form what could charitably be called a script. “A life worse than death.” “You’ll pay for this.” And Judah, who is Jewish, even exclaims “Oh my God” at one point. The actors would have been better off ad-libbing their lines.

The Jesus subplot is tacked on

The scenes with Jesus (Rodrigo Santoro) are brief and forgettable, and could be chalked up to being a distraction if not for the fact that the Jesus subplot rears its head at the end of the film, presumably because all those previous scenes were meant to be impactful. They’re not. It feels like they filmed all the Jesus scenes at the last minute and tossed it in just to pad out the movie.

Chariot racing in “Ben-Hur.” (United International Pictures)

The only thing that went well for “Ben-Hur” was its budget.

Should you watch this if it’s free? OK.

Should you watch this at weekday movie ticket prices? If you like chariot races.

Score: 2.1/5

“Ben-Hur” opens in cinemas:
- 18 August, 2016 (Singapore)
- 15 September, 2016 (Malaysia)
- 17 August, 2016 (Philippines)

Marcus Goh is a Singapore television scriptwriter. He’s also a Transformers enthusiast and avid pop culture scholar. He Tweets/Instagrams at Optimarcus and writes at marcusgohmarcusgoh.com. The views expressed are his own.