This review contains spoilers.Kudos to director James Barden for his ambitious -- albeit truncated -- retelling of the life of Jesus. The idea is immediately compelling: What would happen if Jesus came to earth NOW, for the first time, rather than 2000+ years ago? According to Mr. Barden, not much would change: Religious leaders would still despise Him, the masses would flock to Him, and, ultimately, scripture would be fulfilled.There is a lot of talent involved here, both in front of and behind the camera. John O'Banion brings a true warmth and sincerity to the role of Jesse (Jesus), while Ramy Zada brings depth to his portrayal of the conflicted Jude (Judas). Jeff Corey and Richard Herd add gravitas. As I mentioned earlier, The Judas Project is ambitious, which ultimately leads to some problems. Trying to fit three years of ministry, teaching and miracles into 90 minutes is tough. Many of the highlights of Jesus's life are merely touched on or glossed over. There just isn't enough time to fully develop all the characters and story lines. Still, the main three story points -- Jesus's relationship with the disciples, His relationship with the religious and world leaders, and His crucifixion -- are well realized. Be prepared, as the crucifixion is gruesome. (These scenes are what gave the movie its PG-13 rating.) Forget the naysayers and simply enjoy the movie for what it is. This is low-budget film making done well.

Initially his movie was promoted: What if Jesus came today, for the first time? In that context, the movie makes a very good statement except for one (misquoted?) excerpt when Jesse says: the quality of life determines the value (of life). It is not the quality of life that determines it's value, but the value that God the Creator placed on life since God values all life according to His word, the very reason Jesus came into this world. The quality of life is placed into the hands of mankind. For those who don't believe or never read or studied the New Testament, this movie has little to offer since it is the spirit in man we are dealing with.

I wish I could give this movie zero out of ten. Oh my, is it bad. I mean really, really bad. I mean...if given the choice between brain syphilis and watching this movie, take the brain syphilis! At least that's curable! Everything about this movie is horrible. Gut-wrenchingly bad. So bad you'll need medication to re-enter society after watching. The makers of this movie should be embarrassed to ever show their faces in public. In fact, the stunning enormity of this movie's awfulness amounts to abuse, so perhaps some of them should be in jail.Ignore the sycophantic claims of some reviewers that this is a good movie. It's possibly the worst movie to come out in the past thirty years.

One of the selling points of this movie was "Made entirely apart from Hollywood," and, boy, does it show. So much so, I only sat there for the first third of the movie.As an actor and soon-to-be filmmaker, I was interested in the whole "apart from Hollywood" angle. As a Christian, the idea of a modern Gospel intrigued me. Both parts of me were offended by this well-intended turkey.The filmmaker in me was offended by the tedium of the story - this is the Greatest Story Ever Told, and they couldn't make it interesting. The acting could only be likened to bad community theater put on film.The Christian in me was offended by the treatment of various parts of the telling. First of all, Jesse (Jesus) was a sensitive, weepy-eyed Gap ad, not the strong, passionate carpenter of the gospels. The point at which I walked out was this: At the transfiguration, Jesse reveals his true self, glorified, to the apostles. Two of the apostles do a jaw-drop-then-faint-like-a-board take, like a WB cartoon, with similar sound effects. Wow. This proud-to-be-Christian director reduced one of the high points of Jesus' life to a slapstick routine. Revolting.The Christian filmmaker in me was offended because all I could think was, "OK, great. Now everyone who sees this is going to think that THIS is what Christian filmmakers do - make crappy movies."