This tiringâ tiresome,clunking return to one of cinema’s mighty warhorses lacks all the subtlety, passion and grandeur of its more illustrious predecessorsThe Roman epic with all its legions of extras was once a genre that belonged to the big screen, or but CGI paradoxically shrank it to laptop size and this unusual version of Ben-Hur has somehow taken the diminution further still. Despite the 3D presentation,this is a film that should be seen on a plane, on the 6in x 8in screen on the back of an airline seat, or probably at 2am on a transatlantic flight,accompanied by a complementary sachet of salty cashews, a vodka and tonic and then a meal of mechanically reconstituted chicken in a fillet-style serving. This tale of warring friends-who-are-closer-than-brothers feels like a Jeffrey Archer script that Lew Grade would possess turned down in 1979. Related: Was everyone on Ben-Hur 2016 too busy sourcing camel milk to generate unusual movie ideas? Related: As the wheels fall off Ben-Hur, and where next for the Hollywood blockbuster? Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com