Review of Risen (2016) by Orlando O — 25 May 2016

The one thing about religious films that Hollywood tries to bring onto the big screen is they adapt the source material but lack in other areas from decent acting, uneven direction, or even the quality of the movie can seem to be focused on being straight to tv. That is also what fails with Risen, it is nice to see the story focused after the crucifixion of Jesus and the 40 days that the Romans spent searching for his body after it disappears in the tomb known as Christ's resurrection. Then, Jesus disciples that see him appear which one non-believer Roman soldier Clavius (Joseph Fiennes) witness and follow the disciples in a journey across the desert. Clavius witnesses miracles as they fish for hours and notices Jesus appearing and loads of fishes are swimming their way. Or Jesus healing a person that has leprosy.

The film does not giving any character depth to the main lead played by Joseph Fiennes. The script lacked characterization. The movie could have been better to see his character perspective as a true Roman soldier slowly believing that they must have been wrong about Jesus of Nazareth. Instead, his character instantly changes and he easily left the romans to follow the disciples. The movie can be boring at times, as we see Clavius and the disciples going on that journey and avoiding the Roman soldiers. It is also were the plot felt uneven on were it was trying to go. The direction was dull and the characters were written as one-dimensional. Even the fight sequences and production felt cheap, when big rock boulders were being thrown at the roman soldiers. The boulders did look fake. Like I said the film tries to focus on the source material while lacking with the effort on everything else. Joseph Fiennes did a decent performance. Tom Felton and Peter Firth were atrocious with their performances. Even Cliff Curtis as Jesus was also decent which he spent less time talking but just appearing around and giving glances to the other characters. Risen is the biblical drama film that will captured the likes of certain audience. The movie could have had some effort into making a better film.