Risen

Risen accomplishes something quite remarkable: It tells the familiar, timeless story of Jesus' death and resurrection from a fresh vantage point. The result is a movie that invites viewers to look at our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, not from an insider's perspective, but from an outsider's; through the eyes of someone with no reason to believe and every reason to be skeptical about the mind-blowing miracles that have just been performed. (pluggedin.com)

I knew I was in trouble when I was bombarded with super smug Christian themed movie trailers. I'm the idiot that for some reason expected some Taken "I will find you ..." kind of movie and I set myself up for these disappointments.

Risen is far superior to a lot of these movies by simple virtue that it isn't an insufferably preachy film. It's still a project that sounds better than it does when given more thought - I wonder why that feels appropriate. The plot is divided in two, but neither part works. Joseph Fiennes is fine as a stoic warrior but falters when it comes to showcasing a change in character. But the film has decent production values and it is, at least, a different take on a well-known story.

If asked to choose a premise for a religious film to watch, I'll take a premise like this one over the more generic offerings. While there wasn't much about this that was outstanding or particularly memorable outside of the occasional production design (marred by the occasional awful visual effect... looking at you, fire guy), it told an interesting story in a fresh new way and was at least competent in trying to achieve what it wanted to achieve. You could certainly do a lot worse this weekend!

Great that this kind of films are still made. Historical and religious - that's double fine for me. Unfortunately, this one is marred by a lackluster script with no discernible ambition to mark one's exceptionality with something more than its theme and genre. The role of a grizzled Roman soldier-investigator fitted Joseph Fiennes like a glove.

Blessed are those who have not seen yet believe.

I'm generally not a fan of religious films, but this has the advantage of actually being a film and not just a propaganda piece. It could have tightened up the story a bit in the slower second half, but the story was decent and it didn't get really preachy. It felt like the purpose of the movie was to tell a story, not just spend 107 minutes talking about how great its religion is. It has flaws, but it was an interesting film and better then most films in the genre.

The film succeeds in its novel narrative framed by the crucifixion and resurrection. It's solidly acted, with the highlight being the scene where Fiennes finds one of the guards (Kevin Naudi) drinking and coaxes the truth out of him as to what happened the night they were stationed by the tomb. There are some flaws here and there, but this is a fine film overall.

I was Risen from my seat far before this movie was over. If only I had been properly warned before hand.

I thought this was pretty good. Joseph Fiennes' performance gets better as the film progresses and some of the other actors do as well. Decent directing and writing, with some subtle humor in there and some great scenery. I liked this turn on the story a lot of people already know. If you are interested in the story it's worth looking into.

With a strong concept and good performances, Risen has unique and intriguing look at the aftermath of the death of Jesus, only brought down by a bit of slow narrative and lack of character development. Overall, a very well produced and good, quality piece of filmmaking, but a little bit more oomph could have made it great.

Risen (2016) takes a different angle on Jesus' rise from the dead.... and don't really dare to do anything with it. Becomes a gigantic bore fest.

Touching, but sometimes portrays Christ and His followers in a bit awkward manner.

The brutal beginning was some sort of interesting but as soon as they reached the point of the story, the risen part, there was nothing to follow. Looking forwards to see the film version of Jesus of Nazareth by the book written by Paul Verhoeven.

This film is well-crafted, but artless. The acting is top-notch. The scene of St Bartholomew's interview with Clavius is superbly done, and the moment after which the film begins to depart from all its strengths. The problem is that it lacks the necessary kind of ambiguity for a world in which nobody believes in anything any more.

First half was a lot better than the rest of the movie. Not a bad Christian movie relative to contemporary standards.

Horrible. Historically I think there are many flaws to Risen and the story has just been terribly told. Bad acting at that too. All in all this one goes straight to the trash can. 23/100.

First half is constantly on the edge of becoming an interesting alternate POV-version of the Passion narrative, before becoming children's story time-conventional once Jesus is shown to be literally "risen" like a friendly ghost.

Credit where it’s due, it’s not obnoxious in its “Jesusness” in the way most Christian films are. But it’s kind of stiff and dry all the same, mostly a second rate Roman Empire melodrama like many we’ve all seen before. Protagonist’s character arc is a full one, but turns way too suddenly; he pretty much 180s in the space of two minutes. I like Kevin Reynolds but feel like his filmmaking muscle deteriorated not making a movie for ten years.

Risen joins the swelling ranks of faith-based films that pander to audiences instead of serving them.

Allright movie with good Fiennes. Second half much worse.

Made for TV movie. Pretty boring

The director clearly cared and the cast gives mostly committed performances; it suffers from its own weight and scale and stiff competition in the genre from all across cinema history.

Interesting Jesus movie concept. Characters are a little strange. Not too entertaining.

ooo my god it was terrible