It was reboot time again for Hollywood in 2016 as Ben Hur got a CGI-infused dust off in a bid to bring a new adaptation of the classic to the big screen with a fresh-faced cast and some impressive looking special effects. You can check out some of the action for yourself in the trailer below, but the remake has got some pretty big sandals to fill as it inevitably had to stack up to the epic 3-hours 44-minutes, Charlston Heston original.
This time around it’ll have little-known British actor, Jack Huston (Pride And Prejudice And Zombies), in the role of Judah Ben-Hur with the addition of Morgan Freeman (The Lego Movie) to add a bit of acting clout as Sheik Ilderim. Kazakh director, Timur Bekmambetov (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter), took the reigns for the reboot, but with the great William Wyler as his predecessor he had a pretty big challenge to live up to.
Release date
Cinema:
Ben Hur (2016) had a UK release date of Wednesday the 7th September 2016, a little after arriving in US cinemas on the 19th August 2016. It had competition at the box office from modern day western, Hell Or High Water, which was out on the same weekend in the UK.
It came out during a spate of Hollywood remakes in 2016, which included both Pete’s Dragon and The BFG from Disney earlier in the year. With so much emphasis on special effects, the Ben Hur remake was screened in Real 3D, as well as standard 2D.
DVD, Blu-ray and digital download:
The Roman adventure will be getting its UK DVD release date on the 16th January 2017, along with the Blu-ray and digital download rental formats. However, you’ll be able to own the film first as a digital download from the 2nd January 2017.
Story
The plot is pretty much the same as that of the 1959 movie, which was a remake of the 1925 silent movie of the same name, as well as being an adaptation of the 1880 Lew Wallace novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ. It tells the story of an Israeli nobleman called Judah Ben-Hur (Huston), who is betrayed by his childhood friend Messala and condemned as a slave, while his family is taken from him.
After years toiling in the galleys of a Roman ship he manages to gain freedom once again and vows to take vengeance on Messala. With the help of a prominent Sheik (Freeman) he enters a chariot taurnament in direct opposition to Massala where the motto is “first to finish. Last to die”, granting him his last long-awaiting chance of revenge.
Cast
In addition to Huston as Ben-Hur and Freeman as Sheik Ilderim, his chariot race backer, the cast also features Toby Kebbell (Fantastic Four (2015)) as Messala. Nazanin Boniadi (Homeland) plays Ben-Hur’s forbidden love interest, Sofia Black D’Elia stars as his sister Tirzah, and Ayelet Zurer (Daredevil Netflix) stars as his mother Naomi. Rodrigo Santoro (Focus) plays Jesus of Nazareth.
Age rating
The British Board Of Film Classification has certified Ben Hur (2016) as a 12A in the UK with “moderate violence, injury detail and threat”.
Blu-ray special features
While the DVD only includes the feature film in standard definition, the Blu-ray comes with a few special features to sweeten the deal. They include:
- Ben-Hur: The Legacy
- The Epic Cast
- A Tale For Our Times
- The Chariot Race
- Deleted and extended scenes
- Music videos
Production
Timur Bekmambetov directs the film from a screenplay by Keith Clarke (The Way Back) and John Ridley (12 Years A Slave). It’s been produced by Sean Daniel, Joni Levin and Duncan Henderson, with Mark Burnett, Roma Downey, Keith Clarke, John Ridley and Jason F. Brown as the executive producers.
Oliver Wood (Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues) is the director of photography, the music score has been composed by Marco Beltrami (Hitman: Agent 47) and Jim Rygiel is the visual effects coordinator. Costume design is by Varya Avdyushko and production design is by Naomi Shohan.
First impressions
We’d need to be hard pressed by a Roman short sword to the gut to say that Ben Hur (2016) could be anything other than second fiddle to the lofty heights of the 1959 film, but it should still be an entertaining movie to watch, especially on the big screen. The effects, set creation and costume design do look genuinely amazing, so it’s clearly going to be visually impressive, and the cast seems pretty strong.
The trailer below implies that the same level of emotional intent has at least been aspired towards, but it’s a lot to ask for it to match the dramatic delivery of the earlier film. It looks like there’s a little more emphasis on the action side of things than the drama and intensity element. However, it also sounds like there will be more Biblical references and a larger part for the portrayal of Jesus in the film, so it will be interesting to see how it all comes together.
