29.7.18

"Risen" by Kevin Reynolds (2016)


What on earth possessed me into thinking I might like this movie - perhaps suggested hint that this might be different angle of poking and probing into ancient tale - always sucker for literature that reinterpret this old story from historical perspective, I thought Hollywood might find new way of dealing with spiritual inheritance left two thousand years ago but it was not meant to be.

Initially, "Risen" has a good premise - hard-boiled Joseph Fiennes is a tough Roman soldier given task to deal with another crucifixion and as the body of you-know-who later disappears, it makes his boss Pontius Pilate nervous, boy you get this mess sorted out before it creates even more problems. Tom Felton (Draco from Harry Potter) tags along as ambitious young Roman who sweats trough hunts for Yeshua's followers but he also notices that Fiennes has his doubts about the whole case. Director Kevin Reynolds has solid body of work behind him and he dresses everything in interesting, action-packed cellophane that works just fine as long as soldiers fight and burst through the doors searching for their suspects - when the movie is supposed to get into spiritual, it falters because it insist to show how Roman soldier could metamorphose from hunter into hunted. Perhaps I got this all wrong, but for me its not about physical resurrection as much about seeds of idea that Yeshua left behind him. Visually attractive and well acted, movie is still too cautious to make waves and sticks to the canon perhaps too close for its own good - preaching to the choir, it simplifies the idea that might work much better if Reynolds was willing to take more risks. 

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