Review of The Last Temptation of Christ (1988) by Zachary F — 16 Dec 2009

I have very mixed feelings about this movie. On the one hand, it is often brilliant, touching, and profound - on occasion. I feel the problem is that the script feels like it was written by two separate people. One of them thinks people in Jerusalem talked like we do now. The script is by and large a mess where dialogue becomes worse than exposition. Given the amount of time spent on the wrong things, minutes are cut elsewhere in the movie by having big speeches (that supposedly attract crowds) changed into one-line slogans. Not to mention that random fights break out over and over again at the slightest provocation when they would have made more sense if they were gradual. When the story is good, it is wonderful, as is the overall message. My impression is that nobody could make up their mind was this film was supposed to be. Scenes with the characters are often like night and day where they alternate poor and good characterization. Exactly how many times is Judas going to tell Jesus he wants to/is ordered to/doesn't want to/would sooner kill him? In one scene, he complains about Jesus's different attitudes day by day, going from love to the axe to crucifixion. I had a feeling this was the critics stepping in because it was exactly how I felt. In a Monty Python-esque case of historical tell-rather-than-show, the Israelites let everyone know that the Romans are burning the city by saying "The Romans are burning the city." For a movie that is clearly meant to be as serious as this is, why are there so many moments when I felt like laughing?

All this aside, I occasionally found certain characters like Mary Magdalene compelling and much of the attention to detail was excellent.