Movie Review: Risen

This weeks review is on the movie Risen, which is on the resurrection through a non-believers eyes. This means it's a religious movie, and the last one I reviewed, Woodlawn, didn't go too well. I was interested to see how this movie would go.

The movie starts out following a man as he walks through the desert. He enters an Inn where the Inn Keeper gets the man a drink. He starts asking questions and we learn that the mans name is Clavius (played by Joseph Finnes), who was a Tribune in Caesar's army. We then go into a long flashback sequence that explains why he is here.

Clavius is leading an army of centurions against some Jewish rebels. After a hard fought battle he won, he heads home to find that Pilate (played by Peter Firth) wants to see him right away. When he gets there, Pilate tells him he had to maintain the peace by having an innocent Nazarite crucified. He would like Clavius to check on it and spare the man by making the crucifixion go faster. Clavius gets a tribune in training assigned to accompany him named Lucius (played by Tom Felton). When Clavius and Lucius get to the crucifixion, the man on the middle cross, Yeshua (played by Cliff Curtis), is already dead, but a centurion goes to break his legs to make sure. Clavius tells him to grab a spear to stab through his side instead.

The movie was interesting take on the classic bible tale of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It plays out like a murder mystery in the first half and then a movie of self discovery in the second half. It doesn't follow exactly what happened, but I think it is close enough that most religious people will enjoy the story. I am not sure about some of the followers being portrayed as the hippy type, but I guess that is how the director and writers saw them. At least it didn't get preachy in the end.

The acting was not bad, a little dry in some parts, as proof by my mom falling asleep part way through. I will give her the benefit of the doubt due to a rough night beforehand though. I think there could have been a little more emotion brought in, but then again maybe that was how they interpreted how a Roman Tribune would behave.

Overall, the movie was kinda mostly good, with understandable plot and moderately decent acting. So the movie wasn't bad, but not great either, so I would rate this movie 6.2/10.