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A Few Words About A few words about...™ Ben-Hur (2016) -- in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

Robert Harris

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Is the latest incarnation as bad as the reviews, 41?

I don't believe so.

Some decent, but never great performances, some very nice digital work, especially in the creation of the Roman era, beautifully shot.

What's the problem, then...

41?

The film feels as though it has no soul.


It's a interesting concept to attempt to create a new version of a film, based upon Lew Wallace's 1880 novel.

It's even more interesting when that novel is no longer mentioned in the credit block.

It becomes downright dangerous, when the book is known to have been the basis of a couple of extraordinary motion pictures.

While only cinephiles may be aware of Fred Niblo's 1925 silent version (at that time the most expensive silent film in history), far too many are aware of the William Wyler's 1959 epic.

Where is the problem with the new Bekmambetov version? To my sensibilities, it's the screenplay, primarily.

The new Blu-ray from Paramount and MGM, is of extremely high quality, as it should be, as it's derived from a DI.

Superb imagery and audio.

But it's not the 1925, nor the 1959, and if one is purchasing a Blu-ray, I'd go for the '59, and hope that the '25 will shortly come down the Blu-ray pike.

Image - 5

Audio - 5 (DTS-HD MA 7.1)

4k Up-rez - 5

Pass / Fail - Pass

RAH
 

Stephen_J_H

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But it's not the 1925, nor the 1959, and if one is purchasing a Blu-ray, I'd go for the '59, and hope that the '25 will shortly come down the Blu-ray pike.
As someone who would love to see the '25 version on BD, I'm holding onto this hope, knowing full well that an SD version of the '25 is on the current BD release, and that "some" labels would consider that "good enough". I think our best hope for a '25 BD release is the Archive.
 
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PMF

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The film feels as though it has no soul. [...]
It would be difficult to find a soul within any film that would not start off by paying due tribute to its literary source.
No worries, though; this version will not be sticking around as long as the William Wyler production;
and with that, author credit shall also live on.
A toast to Lew Wallace.:cheers:
 

Robert Harris

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This Ben-Hur was updated by Lew Wallace's great-great-granddaughter, Carol Wallace.

There seems to be a question of whether Ms Wallace wrote a new version of the novel, or a novelization, based upon the film.

Interesting quote from the filmmaker in the linked piece, that at least to me, sounds like a mashup of studio marketing with Christian Right speak, as a rationale to make the new film:

"Timur: Yes, for me, the 1959, unbelievable best movie with best action scene ever made, the chariot race. But at the same time, it’s out-dated. Not technically, it’s outdated ideologically, because the idea of forgiveness. What we have in this movie is unique. I don’t know another movie, Hollywood movie, because there’s a lot of European movies about how we can forgive each other. In America, it was not so popular. Because during post-production, I felt it, because at the end of the chariot race, it’s the end of the movie for big wide audiences. Usually, the movie is finished at this point. What’s great about this story is that it’s only really the beginning of the real drama. When you won the race, when you destroy your enemy, you destroy your brother, your family, your life, and your world, he’s absolutely empty. Then there’s a whole process of discovering something real, how to survive and it’s forgiveness. It’s the whole reason to make this movie. It’s not about technicality. One of the ideas we had from the beginning, the whole team, all of us, DOP, director, we’re just trying to stay behind the story and let the story play itself. For very specifically, we shot the style of camera work, it’s very realistic and there’s no perfectly designed shots, because otherwise it would take away from the story and from acting. . "

Will his next project be "God, Lew & Zombies?"

Nope.

Moby Dick is coming.
 
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Nick*Z

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The '59 version is not 'outdated' and this remake, whatever its virtues - and I have to say, having seen it, I found very few indeed - is an exercise in obsolescence. No soul? Indeed. Although I do not think 'soulful' film making was ever on the agenda here. We get the sort of brutalized, gritty, and occasionally gruesome spectacle all of the more recent post-post-modern cinema resurrections have suffered from - considerably - fatally, in my opinion. A few so-so performances scattered throughout; mediocre dialogue, and a complete lack of 'redemption' for our (choke!) hero at the end. Bottom line: you can't compete with Heston, Wyler and the miraculous and uplifting score by Miklos Rosza; to say nothing of MGM - all its pistols firing in unison at the tail end of its waning supremacy as "the king of features". The '59 version is one for the ages and ageless. The remake is a lame duck - a dead duck, if you ask me. Quack, quack, 41. We didn't need it.

And I'll venture a guess it won't be celebrating a deluxe 50th anniversary reissue 50 years from now, the same as the Wyler version. Wyler had that rare gift for story-telling, affectionately known as "the Wyler touch". Here was a master craftsman of the old school, as at home at the helm of a romantic comedy (Roman Holiday) as period drama (The Little Foxes, The Letter, Jezebel), wartime dramas (Mrs. Miniver, The Best Years of Our Lives), gargantuan westerns (The Big Country), literary adaptations (Wuthering Heights) or doing a big and brassy musical (Funny Girl) and feather-weight romantic comedy (How To Steal a Million). Wyler could - and did - do it all. We do not have a film-maker of his caliber working in the movies today, nor is there an opportunity for his kind of ambitious showmanship in today's Hollywood. How tragic for us all!
 

Mike Frezon

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There seems to be a question of whether Ms Wallace wrote a new version of the novel, or a novelization, based upon the film.

She says she "updated" the novel...keeping the story intact but using modern verbiage/writing techniques.

Influenced by the previous film versions? Only she would be able to say, I suppose.

 

Robert Harris

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She says she "updated" the novel...keeping the story intact but using modern verbiage/writing techniques.

Influenced by the previous film versions? Only she would be able to say, I suppose.



I'm for anything that will push people to read.

A wonderful marketing concept, as was the Stoker connection several years ago.
 
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