I recently reviewed Ben-Hur (the book) and decided to watch the 2016 movie and see the book come to life.
I have always promised myself to be fair as a bookworm, but I haven’t felt this disappointed since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
Thoughts
Even if I had not read the original work by General Lew Wallace, what they produced would not be anything like the book. Instead, they should just say they borrowed the characters’ names and a bit of the scenery.
Even assuming they had a ‘director license’ to cut and tuck to fit the budget, which is understandable, what they did was outright different. The book might as well be a mere suggestion and reference rather than it being the source of the plot line.
The number of things they cut out is astonishing; they started relationships too early and failed to create vital relationships – I mean, how else is he legitimate without that relationship?
I am holding back so I don’t throw in spoilers, but what the heck? They changed the whole storyline! They cut out most of what I loved about the book, and I almost threw the remote away in annoyance.
They even made Messala into a guy you feel sorry for. Can’t we have the plain villain? How could they remove Iras and her dad?
At first, I felt I was judging the movie harshly, so I made myself sit and watch, but when it got to the point where they made Judah into an outlaw, I just gave up.
The only way I was going to continue watching it was to believe it was a story on its own and not a book turned into a movie.
Yes, some scenes made me nod like the dispatch guys that made me go, okay, that can happen in a race, and yes, it was nice to see the crowds roaring in the stands, but it couldn’t make up for all the intellectual nonsense they made.
It has all the touch of a contemporary American drama for something that happened during the Roman Empire.
Wrapping Up
If you plan on watching Ben-Hur (2016) to answer a pop quiz on the book in school, you might as well not bother. It was a cheap rip-off of the book.
The movie, compared to the book, was an astonishing disappointment.
I hereby rate Ben-Hur (the movie) one out of five stars; obviously, the book wins. No chariot race is needed to verify.
