This movie was a quick-and-dirty Cliff Notes version of the novel which I have read. The major events from the book were presented but many wonderful supporting characters were left out. Even what was presented was altered from the original novel including the ending. The 1959 version was much better and truer to the novel but even it left out a lot, the novel is very long but a good read.

I'm no movie expert by any means, but can I just say that I really loved this movie? I think you'll need to know a bit about the politics in the time of Jesus Christ to totally get what is going on (but hey, there's not a single movie in which you don't need to know something about life to understand). Why do I love this movie? Well, for one, I'm a HUGE horses fan, and there are some lethally beautiful equines in this film. Ja, I'm half- serious here because a chariot gets wrecked and the horses are crashing through the tents and all that jazz. Secondly, I love how Jesus isn't the main feature (read: doesn't get all the screen time) but it shows how his actions and message impact people on multiple levels, even indirectly. You see him dip in and out of the story line.I also really love the tension between the brothers in terms of beliefs, station, choices, and paths of life. The characters are conflicted over family, love/romantic partner, politics, government, and duty.The character portrayal wasn't 100%, but it was fun to watch Morgan Freeman feature in this film (as a rich merchant or chariot race- betting person) who definitely delivers. There's a lot of drama (so not low-key) especially between the two brothers and the set for this movie was Really nice. Note the capital R. The armor looked hand-crafted and the cloaks they wear are top-notch... not that I'm a cloak expert or anything but you catch my drift!Overall, an excellent movie with reconciliation and forgiveness being offered at the last bit. Good music and lots of excitement, especially if you enjoy watching coliseum-type things.

Although Charlton Heston made a career out of over-acting, it fit well with the grandeur of the original Ben-Hur. The cinematography and story in the 1959 version were simply exceptional. Unfortunately, this new version fails by comparison in almost every aspect. The story is changed in small ways, but every one of them for the worse. How can one feel the desperation and then triumph of the chariot race when the antagonists are made to represent nothing? Judah isn't all that sympathetic and Messala isn't all that bad. Their motivations don't support their actions. Indeed, after everything, it turns out that Messala doesn't die, the characters drop their antagonism for no apparent reason, and everyone lives happily ever after. Ugh! Add to that a plodding pace that doesn't build at all, a chariot race filled with so many cuts and close-ups that you never really are convinced it is real, with characters who bounce back from impossible physical conditions with super- hero like ability with hardly a scratch...it becomes a yawner.Re-making one of the all-time classics is fraught with peril. Here is a perfect example of why not to do it.

The screenwriters of this movie should be utterly ashamed of themselves. From the very start of the movie lazy use of a narrator (Morgan Freeman) reading what sounds like a fairy tale ... to the end of the movie which wraps everything up in a 15 minute stint in ultra hokey fashion this is a train wreck of a movie.The final scene where Judah and Masala are riding horses through a pasture together with a modern day female vocal which sounds like it's straight out of a Starbucks commercial is cringeworthy. The Director takes every idea from the original remake (Yes, the Heston version was a remake too) and puts a twist on it which completely destroys the original premise. The acting/writing makes every meaningful moment a complete joke.Example, every scene with Jesus feels like it is written in like an afterthought and the acting is so bad it almost feels like the start of a parody. You literally can't believe it's real. The scene in the 60s version where Jesus gives Judah water and vice versa is probably one of the most moving moments in screen history. Part of that comes from the fact that Jesus is not acknowledged as Jesus. He's just a stranger who has some mysterious lure ... Jesus in almost treated like the light inside the briefcase in Pulp Fiction in the Heston version. Until the end, you don't realize the significance. In this version, Jesus is almost a story within a story that feels like another movie which was randomly edited in.To remake Ben Hur was absolutely unnecessary and quite presumptuous in the first place. To make it a campy version of the Heston version was laughable. Kudos to the Director for agreeing to do something so insane ... he would have to be crazy, an incredible egotist or desperate for money to agree to such a project.The most famous scene in the movie ... perhaps any movie ... is the chariot scene. I reserve criticism for this scene because I did find it fairly entertaining. CGI makes you realize how amazing the cinematography was in the original Heston version! The Director and screenwriters do manage to ruin it with their campy schtick however by adding unbelievable events. Such as Judah being dragged from the back of a horse drawn chariot traveling 40 mph through dirt paths for almost 60 seconds before he pulls himself up onto the chariot with only minor dust on his white shirt. Or during a race in a giant arena with tens of thousands of screaming fans and while commanding 4 galloping horses, Judah clearly hears Morgan Freeman's character yelling instructions from the stands. Come on ...Morgan Freeman plays the part with no emotion. I think they got him for the voice-over and then decided to write the part in. Judah is not there when the rain from Jesus's death cures his relatives of leperacy and instead Morgan Freeman randomly appears with a bag of money to secure their release.Perhaps most stunning is the fact that after the Chariot race, there is no confrontation between Judah and Masala. The writing in the original was unreal. Here, Masala lives and at the end of the movie the hatred between Judah and Masala is wrapped up in 20 seconds with a hug and then the cringeworthy final shot of them riding horses to guitar music. As if it never happened. I have to believe that the movie was supposed to be longer and the suits cut it down and forced awkward rewrites which placed an hour's worth of scenes into 8 minutes because that is how the movie ends. If not, I cannot imagine any screenwriter would allow their name to be attached.John Huston cannot carry the movie. He starts out looking like Russell Brand with long hair and a beard in the first part of the movie. Not sure why they didn't start him with short hair like when he finishes. At the end of the movie he looks more like a movie star. From the first scenes he looks more like a roadie for a rock band. Masala is ho hum ... you can tell he is acting. The brooding doesn't seem authentic. Freeman calls his part in as a 'mystical' all knowing character. Par for the course lately. The other characters are just set dressing. Pontious Pilate is depicted as an evil army general (played well by the actor for the script's calling) which is an odd way to write that character who was known more as a judicial type with a conscience.Overall this is just a mess ... so-so acting, terrible directing and horrendous writing. Even the cinematography is done in a way where you get dizzy and it feels like all the shots were shot too close and need to be pulled back. Oddly, the movie did go by fast which was a very good thing considering. Not as bad as Noah or some of the other biblical cash grabs but still bad.