Ben-Hur (2016)

Mr E

This wasn't on my radar, but it looks surprisingly good.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2638144/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLJdzky63BA

NyOmnishambles

I am not normally one to sh!t on remakes but No, just No

The original is awesome and this is just totally unnecessary as it doesn't seem to add a single thing to the original, it looks almost a shot for shot remake just with fancier graphics and the original effects still hold up fairly well
Plus the lead doesn't seem to have an ounce of Heston's presence

McLoughlin

NyOmnishambles wrote: »

I am not normally one to sh!t on remakes but No, just No

The original is awesome and this is just totally unnecessary as it doesn't seem to add a single thing to the original, it looks almost a shot for shot remake just with fancier graphics and the original effects still hold up fairly well
Plus the lead doesn't seem to have an ounce of Heston's presence

You do realize that the 1959 movie with Charlton Heston was a remake ?

titan18

It's just really unnecessary. It might be decent, but they'd probably make a decent bit of money just re-releasing Heston's version in the cinema anyway. The chariot sequence still stands up incredibly well as a setpiece despite advances in technology.

Burgo

For a minute I really thought it was Charlie Day:

NyOmnishambles

McLoughlin wrote: »

You do realize that the 1959 movie with Charlton Heston was a remake ?

Of course

As I said I don't usually give out about remakes just for the sake of it, some great films have been remakes

Some things just don't need a remake

Harry Palmr

Looks like a load of bloated two part TV movie ****e.

jonon9

Another cash train for hollywood.

lertsnim

The Bluray of the Heston verison still blows me away so **** this version.

MRnotlob606

Doesn't look that good to be honest. I don't like how much CGI is in it.

sbs2010

NyOmnishambles wrote: »

Plus the lead doesn't seem to have an ounce of Heston's presence

Charlton Heston was one of the worst actors ever and I say that as a fan of Planet of the Apes and Ben Hur.

He always looked like he was permanently constipated.

NyOmnishambles

sbs2010 wrote: »

Charlton Heston was one of the worst actors ever and I say that as a fan of Planet of the Apes and Ben Hur.

He always looked like he was permanently constipated.

I don't disagree but I said he had presence, which I would argue is a different kettle of fish

And something that seems to be sorely lacking from the people involved in this judging from the trailer, Morgan Freeman excepted

Harry Palmr

In the old days producers understood the word spectacle, now the same work is done often badly in a computer and all the money goes on actors, though in this case I don't see any expensive names. So maybe this is just a fairly cheap retelling.

Wedwood

As mentioned above, it looks like a TV movie with now bog standard CGI 'epicness'. It's hard to justify the value of remaking a movie that won 11 Oscars.

Maybe it'll be a hit with younger viewers who are unfamiliar with Heston's version.

PS: I think Morgan Freeman is great, but I'm getting tired of these dial in 'mentor' roles he seems to have cornered the market in. He now basically plays the same character in every movie he's in.

SouthTippBass

Oh look, its Morgan Freeman playing Morgan Freeman again. How fantastic.

storker

The opening views of the sea battle look like they were lifted straight from gameplay footage from the Total War series. Still, it looks interesting...

Ben Gadot

sbs2010 wrote: »

Charlton Heston was one of the worst actors ever and I say that as a fan of Planet of the Apes and Ben Hur.

He always looked like he was permanently constipated.

Heston is jusy one of those guys that was a true movie star. He wasn't the best actor in the world but he just had a presence that lit up the screen. Eastwood and Schwarzenegger (at his best) were of a similar vain.

Anyway, I saw this trailer the other day and unfortunately it didn't do a lot for me. Kebbel needs to start picking better projects quickly, while Houston could have picked a better vehicle for his bog screen break.

Agricola

It will definitely be a fairly brainless summer blockbuster with a biblical epic coat of paint, but still, from my POV, it's not another superhero film, so I'll give it a chance at least.

Endless remakes are shít but if they must make remakes like this, it would be nice if they veered away from making an ancient version of the Fast and the Furious. This shouty, high octane, "FÚCK YOU MOTHAFÚCKA, IM GONNA RIP OUT YO SPLEEN" bullshít might suit a modern day American based action film, but it's really ridiculous in something like this. A remake closer to the 1959 film, a bit slower paced with some epic setpieces, and no Americans in dreadlocks would be a start.

But of course that's not going to get teenages bums on seats so.................

Mr E

New trailer. So serious! The trailer music was a bad choice too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OE46mqgXqo

Tony EH

That looks fucking awful.

pixelburp

It looks like a flat and mediocre remake, with Freeman obviously showing up for a paycheque and a little holiday in the sun, but that music in the trailer is something to behold. Truly terrible and conspires to make the film feel like a made-for-TV movie on the Hallmark channel or something!

TherapyBoy

I really like Toby Kebbell as an actor but he chooses odd films to work in sometimes. To remake such an epic story as this you need to do something a bit special, I hope they got it right.

JP Liz V1

http://www.thewrap.com/ben-hur-biggest-box-office-bomb-summer-paramount-2016/

Looks set to bomb

pixelburp

Yikes, it cost $100 million?? That feels like crazy money in the absence of any major stars (bar Morgan Freeman looking like he'll take the money and run). I had just presumed this was a midbudget affair, low balling it at the end of summer, to make a tidy profit even if it underperformed.

TerrorFirmer

Who the **** OK-d that music for the trailer? It beggars belief.

Wailin

Jesus Christ that looks woeful.....another bloated hollywood remake with eyepopping cgi and no substance :mad:

IamMetaldave

I can't type no enough times.

It could make a $100m loss, if you include the cost of marketing. The $100m is just the cost of making it.

Ouch.

Tony EH

Hopefully it fails just as hard as 'Ghostbusters' did.

None of these remakes deserve any success.

JohnFalstaff

Charlton Heston's Ben Hur was one of my favourite films growing up and although this looks like it could be a disaster I'm looking forward to seeing it. Toby Kebbell as Messala is a great bit of casting.

From that trailer it looks like they've amped up the Jesus angle of the story in a bid to attract the conservative Christian audience in the US. If that happens the film could confound box-office predictions in the same way as The Passion of the Christ did.

JohnFalstaff

Tony EH wrote: »

Hopefully it fails just as hard as 'Ghostbusters' did.

None of these remakes deserve any success.

The 1959 Ben-Hur was a remake.

Tony EH

It was a good remake though.

And it's part of a very small club.

Harry Palmr

Flop opening weekend - quell surprise.

Channel 5 will have this on rotation in two years

Mr E

Yep, looks like an absolute turkey.

BoJack Horseman

Choosing a generic eurovision song to back their trailer was a bad move.

The story of Judah Ben-Hur is great & should make for a great film..... But this looks like a f*ck up.

Duggy747

Would've preferred the Mr. Burns version.

Tony EH

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Flop opening weekend - quell surprise.

Surely, SOMEONE at the kickoff meeting expressed SOME concerns?

BlitzKrieg

from what I've heard and looking at the production companies involved: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightworkers_Media

This is one of the christian faith movies masquerading as a blockbuster (see Risen earlier this year for another example)

Now I know its in the source material and all the previous adaptations but word on the grape vine is its much more forefront in this one (the 1959 one literally has 3 or so scenes about Jesus and its always a background element)

according to initial reviews and comments and from the above trailer this one shoves the jesus part of the story to the forefront to a *gods note dead* level of comfortableness.

Even the song in that awful trailer: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_King_%26_Country_(band)

Yep Christian rock band.

Look everyone is welcome to their faith, but regardless of what it is faith movies suck.

From Christians to scientologists, there is no such thing as a good faith movie.

NyOmnishambles

BlitzKrieg wrote: »

Look everyone is welcome to their faith, but regardless of what it is faith movies suck.

From Christians to scientologists, there is no such thing as a good faith movie.

I beg to differ

Whilst not everyone's cup of tea I personally think Contact is hugely underrated

endacl

NyOmnishambles wrote: »

I beg to differ

Whilst not everyone's cup of tea I personally think Contact is hugely underrated

Faith movie?

BlitzKrieg

NyOmnishambles wrote: »

I beg to differ

Whilst not everyone's cup of tea I personally think Contact is hugely underrated

Not a faith movie.

Thats a movie about faith

Which is an artistic interpetation and exploration of one's faith on the blank canvas of film.

A faith movie is where the filmmakers get given a pre-approved paint by numbers canvas and a limited choice of colours


Its why a film like The last temptation of christ can be a good movie about jesus christ but The Passion of the Christ is a well made but obnoxious bit of scripture worship.

ancapailldorcha

There are posters of it on bus stops here. They depict the chariot race and it looks like 2 lads having the craic while the tagline suggests a serious story. In short, looks like slop. I won't be seeing it.

TheDoc

@Blitzkrieg

What I'm gathering is that the film was so panned throughout the previews, there was some serious last minute changes and marketing changes to target this heavily towards Christian communities etc.

Like many predicted from the trailer, looks absolutely dire, the reviews are scathing, and I'll be giving this a miss 100%. This looks one of those that even if a copy appeared online I wouldn't deem it worthy of HDD space.

BlitzKrieg

TheDoc wrote: »

@Blitzkrieg

What I'm gathering is that the film was so panned throughout the previews, there was some serious last minute changes and marketing changes to target this heavily towards Christian communities etc.

It was made by the same production company and producers that made that Bible mini series. Its not a last minute change to up the christian aspect, it was baked into it from the get go.

TerrorFirmer

Very disappointed as I was looking forward to a good, solid swords and sandals genre epic.

I actually watched Risen a while back, and hadn't realized that it was a faith film - went into it knowing almost nothing, which is usually my preferred option but now and again you encounter a film where you wish you'd done a little elemental reading.

Having said that, Risen is quite good all the same, just very slow and....biblical.

DanMurphy

I often visited the site where that chariot race was filmed while in Lebanon, (Tyre) and I stood in the remnants of the chariots used. They were piled in a corner of Tyre Military Barracks to rust away. I was stationed at that Barracks for a while in 1978 and wiled away a some time of an evening gazing at these disused props and hoping I could fit one in my kit bag !

Tony EH

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Very disappointed as I was looking forward to a good, solid swords and sandals genre epic.

I actually watched Risen a while back, and hadn't realized that it was a faith film - went into it knowing almost nothing, which is usually my preferred option but now and again you encounter a film where you wish you'd done a little elemental reading.

Having said that, Risen is quite good all the same, just very slow and....biblical.

Have to say, I thought 'Risen' was a pretty decent picture. It being a "faith" film didn't bother me at all. I think they did well capturing the period. Or at least trying to capture a feel of it.

This pretend Ben-Hur can go suck on an brick though.

razorblunt

I was wondering why this was repeatedly showing on Facebook feed with clips of the movie. I continually kept ranting that it looks awful (I'm not a fan of the original either, since they tried showing it to us in school during religion class but only in 20 minute bursts and often the same part over and over again). Turns out my wife got into my FB and liked the "BEN-HUR official page".


Well played, well played.

I'm going to miss her.

Masala

How could they do this to a classic????????

Hope the character I named myself after is as dasterly as the original !!!! Did u know he was Irish......

razorblunt

I did not! Just checked IMDB and I didn't realise he died at quite a young age too.
It has $100million budget, they must have known it would be a turkey from the start unless they're trying to make a modern day Ben-Hur in the Prince of Persia / Titans movies style.