The 1959 is an awesome and amazing film with a great cast that won multiple Oscars......so naturally they are making a new one.
! No longer available (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLJdzky63BA#)
Yeah... Well, to be fair the 1959 one is itself essentially a remake of a classic (well, same source), somewhat like the 1940s version of the Maltese Falcon which was so good it overshadowed the original.
But that trailer... It doesn't scream ATROCIOUS, just astonishingly generic and mediocre. Like they took all the soul and interesting stuff in the original, and sanitized it and made it as modern and generic as possible.
Oddly enough, I like the silent film version better than the 1959 version. Though, I do like the chariot race in the 1959 version, which I hold is still one of the best action sequences ever put on the screen. And perhaps more surprisingly, I also like the naval battle in the 1959 version, scale ship models and all. Which means . . .?! I have not the least bit of interest in seeing the newest rendition of Lew Wallace's classic novel.
But that trailer... It doesn't scream ATROCIOUS, just astonishingly generic and mediocre. Like they took all the soul and interesting stuff in the original, and sanitized it and made it as modern and generic as possible.
E-yeah...his name is Juda Ben Hur...that first name might P.O. some overseas sales, ya think?
Interesting effects, yeah...but I am getting numb to seeing Morgan Freeman playing 'The wise old _______'
For Timur Bekmambetov, this is remarkably understated. From his previous films, one would expect Ben Hur to be battling undead legionary mummies while driving his chariot around the walls of the Circus Maximus or something.