I Really Wanted to Like This Movie, but… A Review of “Risen.”

Let me just start by saying that I won’t post any spoilers.  If you want to know specifics you can message me.  That being said, I truly wanted to like this movie.  I especially wanted to like it when I heard what the premise was, and also saw that Joseph Fiennes was in it.  He did such a wonderful job as Martin Luther.  He, and a couple other actors outclassed the actors that played the Apostles, and it felt like hippies from the (I removed a word here.  See the comments below to read why.)  movement wrote the lines for the Apostles.  This movie had so many opportunities to do it right, but it never coalesced.  We never heard why Jesus had to die, we never heard that He was truly God, we never heard any confession of sin on anyone’s part.  All we did hear were incoherent ramblings about love unrelated or linked to the gospel.  I was so disappointed with this film.  I was hoping for a “Jesus of Nazareth” or a Charleton Heston in “The Ten Commandments” level production.  This was devoid of any useful theological information, or gospel proclamation.  I was also let down by the incongruous use of artistic license.  Sometimes it was seamless, and others it was glaringly awkward.

It wasn’t all bad.  It far exceeded the recent tripe that has come out of Hollyweird.  With the bad taste left in our mouths from “Noah” and “Exodus gods and Kings” with batman as Moses, I found their effort with “Risen” to be a bit refreshing.  The acting of the main characters was top notch, the supporting cast… meh.  There was no profanity, or romantic scenes.  There was however, graphic violence.  If you want to have Christian themed entertainment that never gets around to being truly helpful and wastes your time, then go see, “Risen.”  Otherwise, stay home and do a Bible study.  You’ll get much more out of that.  Then, go out and evangelize the lost.  They need it and this movie isn’t going to get it done.