Benhur (2016) movie review

Ben hur movie (2016) review

Cast : Jack Huston, Toby Kebbel, Morgan Freeman

Directed by Timur Bekmambatev

Written by John Ridley, Keith R Clarke, Lew Wallace (based on his 1880 book)

Review by Zulfiqar (3/5)

It’s just inevitable that a comparison with the old 1959 version of ‘Ben-hur’ is to be made when you are watching this year’s movie of the same name.

Director Timur Bekmambatev compared his movie with the older one and said that his movie is closer to the central theme of forgiveness while the eleven academy awards garnered epic was more about revenge. I digress. Both the movies have themes of forgiveness more compared to vengeance. However bekmambatev missed the mark more. The movie which starts with a promising beginning flags and wavers to become an action set piece centered plot rather than a well structured and finely written one like its predecessor. The chariot race which occurs in the 1956 movie is one scintillating action sequence in the history of Hollywood and one of the important points in the movie. but while watching benhur (2016), you will understand that the director’s sight was more on the finale gladiatorial competition rather than the construction of important plot devices. He surely doesn’t miss the spirit of the movie, which is Christ’s lesson of forgiveness and empathy for fellow humans, but it is diluted with a screenplay, which is sort of quick and end-driven rather than living-in-the-moment type.

The tale is as the old moviegoers would know involves Judah Benhur (Jack Huston), a royal jew of Jerusalem, who is friends with Messalah (Toby Kebbell), an orphan raised by the former’s family. Messalah joins the roman army when he grows up and when he returns, he is a roman commander, working for the extension of the roman regime. Benhur is a pacifist and avoids war with his neighboring kingdoms, especially the encroaching Roman Empire. Messalah comes home a changed man. Though he loves Benhur’s sister, he is compelled to arrest Benhur after a false charge of sedition over an attempted murder of a roman prefect. Benhur is sent to galleys for his lifetime while his mother and sister are supposedly executed. Benhur escapes death after the galley he rows is destroyed amidst a battle and he is hired by a chariot race organizer, a black sheikh (Morgan Freeman) to race against Messalah.

Wyler’s Benhur is a grandiose tale, which lauds on depiction of the hard facets of roman regime in the Christ era. It has crisp characters, whose dialogue and behavior makes us aware of the tone of the film. While the new one is a tad deficient in that way. The beginning shows promise as the writers work out the journey of Messalah while he is away from his friend and his transformation to what he becomes. However, he is completely different from the evil and cruel Stephen Boyd’s Messalah. The latter is a cruel man, who puts his friendship secondary to his army campaign’s needs. He has no qualms in banishing Benhur to galleys with no trial and subjecting to the inhumane torture of Benhur’s family. While Toby Kebbel’s Messalah is subject to a tug-of-war between Caesar’s war dictum and his friend’s virtuous ways. His hand is forced as he prefers to keep his friend alive by making him a slave on a galley. At the other end of the spectrum, the title character too is in contrast with the old ones. Charlton Heston’s shoes are tough to fill. Both in ‘Benhur’ and ‘Ten Commandments’, he is the royal prince who is dragged to proletariat level and often to slave order, and basks in the privations till the string is about to break. He revels in this state of destitution and looks the messianic hero. And while he is a prince, he is handsome and debonair, which makes his villain counterparts look seeded and out of order. Jack Huston however looks a sensitive soul, who adores his friend and does this so doggedly that you can easily sympathize with him. His version of Benhur too is admirable in the way he defines the character as the most likable and in fact easily lovable. Messalah too has a sharp angle of his own with a deep consideration for his friend, but after the first act, the movie loses the development of these characters.

The movie probably would have worked if it would have been a little long and Benhur’s transformation from prince to a galley slave would have been dealt slowly. Christ’s intro while Benhur is being dragged by the Romans to the galley doesn’t have the charm as that of Wyler’s version. There are many differences created to give the movie its own uniqueness. Though it is laudable for the attempt, it loses its steam when it changes some of the vital elements of the story, which explains the spirit of it. For one, Benhur isn’t adopted by the leader of the galley he rows, which gets destroyed and which leads to save him. Instead he is saved by a sheik, who puts his money on his chariot racer at the gladiatorial roman circuses. This gives the movie the tone of Russell Crowe’s ‘gladiator’ as the sheikh motivates the slave to seek revenge in the form of redemption of his shame in the eyes of Messalah, as he too will participate in the chariot race. And another cardinal sin occurs when the twist of his family being alive is revealed in the most un-dramatic of ways. It was a trump of Messalah in the old version when on his deathbed and in utter physical agony, he triumphantly divulges the secret of Benhur’s family alive and rotting in a leper village. These things take the pinch and pluck out of this extraordinary tale. the finale of the chariot race however falls short of being a great one as there is a lack of visual clarity and detailing as compared to the older set piece. The movie lives for the finale and then fizzes. You can see how the background score in the second half and the motivating speeches of the African sheikh acts as a prelude to the race but fails to live up to it.

However the whole movie’s main themes are that of tolerance against hatred and acts of forgiveness. The forgiveness includes Jesus’s consideration for the whole mankind and benhur’s to that of his old friend, Messalah. The latter though is a more benign ending compared to the earlier version, and it doesn’t look convincing and a bit hurried up. The movie existing under the shroud of an epic is its shortcoming. Compared to ‘Exodus’, this is a lot better newer version. The lead actors are honest to their roles and add a lot of credibility. If only they could have a little more time to dwell on and spend with them.