Sunday, November 11, 2012

The Passion of the Christ (2004) review


(8/10)

Since I'm a devoted Christian, I'll probably like this film a whole lot more than others, but I love how the real aspects of His torture are captured through great direction.

PLOT:This Biblical film takes place shortly after the last supper when Judas (Luca Lionello) betrays Jesus Christ (Jim Caviezel) and turns him in to the head priests who are after him. We follow Jesus, Peter (Francesco De Vito), Mary (Maia Morgenstern), Mary Magdeline (Monica Belluci) and others as we witness the story of Jesus' crucifixion and torture from the streets to Calvary. It's a good story to make a film on executed brilliantly.



ACTING:The acting in here was pretty great. Jim Caviezel played a pretty solid job as the tortured Jesus Christ and made you feel how bad it was for Him. The other shiners would be Francesco De Vito as Peter, Maia Morgenstern as Mary, Monica Belluci as Mary Magdeline, Giovanni Capalbo as Cassus, and Rosalinda Celentano as Satan.

SCORE:The score in this film is very well done by John Debney. I really got into the touching and dramatic themes composed.

EFFECTS:The effects in here were quite realistic to say the least. The blood surprisingly flows freely for such a Christian film. The blood effects used to show Jesus' wounds before and after being formed are very gruesome and detailed. It really captures the brutality of civilization back then along with the pain He felt. The effects used for the corpses and demons were pretty impressive too.



OTHER CONTENT:This is an expertly-crafted version of Christ's torture and crucifixion as I've never seen it before. Mel Gibson does a great job of taking the source material from scripture and putting it on the screen expertly. He put his vision into the story we all know about Jesus and his death. It's a very brutal and realistic look at it. I cried for about half of the film, for no human being needs to go through this kind of torture, especially Him. The only flaws I could find in this film is that it's a bit overlong and a little distracted from the point. Gibson drags out the scene of Jesus hauling his cross to Calvary in pain to be crucified for dramatic effect, but it just starts to become dull and dreadful, as if the film wasn't enough already. Also, there are a few aspects Gibson put in there to get his vision out that distracted from the film, such as some of the Satan scenes and a lot of the brutality; the message is somewhat lost by the end of the film. However, if you're truly a hardcore Christian, you'll love this film regardless.

OVERALL,a great Christian film with a brilliant plot, great acting, touching score, realistic effects, realstic brutality, and a good vision to the classic story, but it's a little overlong and distracts in some parts.

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