Risen (2016)

Acceptable and memorable film in which a Roman Agent : Joseph Fiennes along with his helper : Tom Felton are commissionated to resolve rumors of the resurrection of an executed convict : Cliff Curtis .In 33 AD in a remote part of the empire called Palestine , sent to to disprove the resurrection and on a spiritual quest the Tribune discovers faith, friendship , wonderful events and a revelation that could shatter the Roman Empire to find the body of Jesus Christ . This is the thrilling tale of a quest to uncover the mystery of all mysteries and while an officer finds out a surprising truth , to discover the body of Jesus Christ who rose from the dead .

Here is treated the Resurrection as a mystery thriller including noisy action , fights , suspense , intrigue and pursuits. This is an interesting treatment of the political and religious thought-world of the time convincingly developed and the intent of the filmmakers is ultimately both ambitious and entertaining. Interpretations are awesome, Joseph Fiennes as the doubtful Tribune gives a magnificent acting , he plays a hard-nosed investigator who finally finds out the marvelous truth , he rises to the occasion especially in the crucial last half-hour . Peter Firth is a credible governor Pontius Pilatus who sends Tribune Clavius off on a dangerous mission. And a nice support cast mostly formed by Spanish actors playing Apostles and Jews as Thomas: Jean Cornet, Andrew:MarioTardon, Thaddeus:Lorente, Joseph Arimatea: Antonio Gil , Jose: Luis Callejo, and Maria Botto as Mary Magdalene. All of them deliver some insightful dialogs.The picture has a Christian point of view that holds interest , delivering an enjoyable Catholic vision fitting itself to religious canon. This is an Usa-Spain coproduction being well set in Malta and Almeria ,Andalucia .Colorful and adequate cinematography by Lorenzo Senatore. Special mention for musical score marvelously composed by Roque Baños , plenty of catching and evocative sounds.

The motion picture was compellingly directed by Kevin Reynolds . Kevin is a good craftsman with hits and flops , including titles as Robin Hood,The beast of the war, Waterworld, 187 , Fandango , Tristan and Isolda. Rating : better than average , well worth watching .

This film by Kevin Reynolds had two previous renditions: 1987 titled The Inquiry by Damiano Damiani with Keith Carradine , Harvey Keitel, Phyllis Logan and 2oo6 The Final Inquiry by Giulio Base with Daniel Liotti , Dolph Lundgren, Monica Cruz , Ornella Muti.

Fmovies: I must confess that I am a retired Catholic with strong antipathy towards all organized religion. Having stated that, I can still recommend Risen as a well made and well intentioned film by director Kevin Reynolds. The cast is uniformly excellent, with the lead, Joseph Fiennes as a Roman soldier drawn into the political intrigue at Jesus'(Yeshua here), Crucifixion and resurrection. Peter Firth is Pilate, the ultimate politician and deal maker. He uses Clavius(Fiennes) to track down the body of Yeshua after he goes missing after the required three days. It is, of course, a familiar story to most of the world. Clavius leaves no stone unturned(pardon the pun) in his search for the messiah. He eventually tracks down the twelve disciples and through a series of mysterious events, is transformed into a new man. Separating my own skepticism from the artistic merit of Risen is easy. It is a beautifully shot cinematic experience without the overdone violence of Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ, an extremely unpleasant viewing experience. Kevin Reynolds kept it simple and straight forward without a preaching tone. Risen is worth your time.

Risen is a fun movie, with many touching moments. It's faithful to the original story of Jesus, but also completely different as the story of a Roman Tribune commanded to find the body of Jesus to quell the new messiah movement. Jesus is played by an excellent choice of actor, who is less of a male model look than many movies. Fiennes is awesome as a man who undergoes a life changing series of events. The basic plot and conclusion of the film is simple yet profound, and should be appreciated by believers and nonbelievers alike. The night I watched it I dreamed about the movie all night, not something which normally happens. The quality is above most faith-based films and is full of action, humor, and inspiration for the whole family.

Risen fmovies. Risen is a Biblical Drama/Adventure film that follows Roman Tribune 'Clavius' (Joseph Fiennes) who is tasked with investigating the disappearance of the body of 'Jesus of Nazareth', who has been rumoured to have resurrected. This movie was a very pleasant surprise as i went into it expecting just an average film about a story that has been represented on the big screen many many times, but i got a very interesting, and dramatic film that had me hooked right to the very end. Many of these biblical films do touch on many of the same beats, but this film approached the story in some interesting ways and offered enough new to differentiate it from the others. The film featured some excellent/very good and convincing performances, but also had one or two miscasts. The story progressed at a steady pace for most of the film making it very easy to follow, and the film was also accompanied by a pretty good soundtrack that i did not expect at all.

One thing this film did with its story that really worked in its favour was tell the story through the eyes of a non-believer, and that added so much more to the story and more interest in the film. This added element let the story take turns that you wouldn't get from just an average biblical film and was great to see. The film also 'looked' very good in terms of the scenery and cinematography, it was very subdued and didn't really have grand set pieces and scenery that were obviously CGI. This really helped the film seem very grounded and i couldn't be distracted by any obvious CGI.

I have to say that i enjoyed the last 2/3 of the film much more than the first 1/3. I felt that there were some pretty big pacing issues in the beginning where it either felt like it was progressing too slow or it was moving too fast. There was a lot of jumping through time and skipping over quite a few scenes, and it was quite jarring at times. But as the story developed it quickly flowed at a very steady pace for the rest of the film and i quickly forgave it for its earlier blunders. In terms of performance, Joseph Fiennes was fantastic in the film as 'Clavius', he was the standout in the film and put in a very convincing and engaging performance that carried the film, especially early on. There were also good performances from other side-characters who elevated the film especially later on, but they weren't all good. Peter Firth who was cast as 'Pontius Pilate' was really not good at all, the way he delivered his lines felt very forced and not natural at all. Tom Felton was also a complete miscast, he just did not work at all as a Roman Soldier and his dialogue was very wooden and fake and just gave the impression that he was overacting and did take me out of it a little.

So in the end this was a surprisingly very good biblical film that offered enough new elements to this familiar story to differentiate it from the countless other similar films. This film would have been much better had they cast someone other than Tom Felton, as he was bringing down the film when Joseph Fiennes was putting in a fantastic performance. It's no 'Passion of the Christ' but it is better than a lot of other biblical films to come out in recent years.

7.3/10

I just came back from seeing Risen, and I have to say, I was actually impressed. This is a very well made movie. They handled the biblical story respectfully, while taking creative license in a way that maintained the spirit and overall message of the gospel. To anyone else considering making another film based on the bible, please take note of this film. This is how it's done. No rock creatures to be found here. Just a wonderful film that tells the story with excellence and dignity. I absolutely loved this movie, and fought tears during the 2nd half. I eventually lost that battle, and I heard other sniffles in the audience as well. So be prepared. (By the way, someone please nominate that Roman guard in tavern for an award.)

Risen gave a fresh but solemn view of the biblical story of the aftermath of Jesus's crucifixion as it tells the story through the eyes of a conflicted and emotionally drained Roman soldier named Clavius. Clavius seems more of a tired observer with his deep stare and mellow manner, and he seems appalled by the violence that the Roman soldiers perform, violence that he himself is called on to perform as well. He is tired of it all and wants to retire to a quiet life with a family, without witnessing any more deaths. None-the-less, duty demands that he kill from time to time, which he dutifully does, and he seems half mortified over this, and half compliant. During the battle in the beginning of the movie, Clavius apathetically kills a Jewish rebel, and later, during the tri-crucifixion scene, he orders a Roman soldier to break a prisoner's leg as he's dying on the cross, then runs his spear through Jesus's ribs, and he's no more bothered by this than if someone fender-bendered him at the supermarket.

The way Fiennes played his role as a troubled Roman official was intriguing, capturing civilians to question them about the whereabouts of Jesus's body, then dismissing them at will. The viewer expected Clavius to perhaps resort to violence or torture to get his captures to speak and reveal where Jesus's body is, knowledge that he desperately needed to satisfy his commander, Pontius Pilate. However, Clavius never quite went that far, either out of compassion or exhaustion. While Fiennes was cast well, Curtis, who plays Jesus, is a cross between a California hippie and a happy skateboard dude in a Coke commercial. In his final good-bye scene, Jesus glibly calls across the sand yelling his farewell as if mom was telling her kids to be good while dad's in charge.

Clavius's young side kick Lucius is played by Tom Felton, and unlike Draco, Lucius follows Clavius around looking confused. Bartholomew was my favorite character. Clavius demands that Bartholomew tell him where Jesus's body is, and Bartholomew grins flippantly and conveys that he ain't telling nothing'! Clavius interrogates him more harshly, kicks him to the ground, and Bartholomew gets up and slowly approaches Clavius, solemnly bends down to his ear, and says, "he's everywhere!" Then Bartholomew beams and prances away; the joke's on Clavius! The only more comical scene was when Clavius asked a group of men, "Does any of you know Mary Magdalene?" and all of them raised their hands. One more -- I was amused when Mary Magdalene looked like Miss Karate Woman beats Godzilla when she kicked an advancing soldier out of her way and escaped through a stone window. Mary is cast well, but her role is too brief, as is all the twelve disciples who are never given any individual definition (except for Simon, who sometimes pouts, and who sometimes is as happy as Santa Claus). Pontius Pilate is old and whiny and is fixated on not upsetting public opinion. Maybe he was really like that, but they don't show the inner turmoil he must have felt being forced to kill an innocent man to placate the masses.

We all know the ending, but Risen takes an unorthodox (if you will) direction. We see facial expressions of shock and realization that tell the story better than computer-generated special effects, and we are constantly grounded into this time period with the frequent buzzing of flies over rotting bodies, hair filled with dust and sand, broken statues of the gods, and earthquakes that crack massive