By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)
I would rather watch Les Misérables again than try to suffer through the 2016 remake of Ben-Hur by Night Watch‘s director Timur Bekmambetov. What went wrong? For one thing, Hollywood really must stop with remaking classics under the thought a story will look better with improved special effects. Some classics are best left untouched. Movies with loose Biblical connections seem cursed; it’s like the Devil is doing his job too well to get the masses to turn away from these type of films.
John Ridley is one of the co-writers of this movie. He’s best known for 12 Years a Slave, and the name should be familiar enough to those who know his work from the mid 90’s with The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and The John Larroquette Show. Mind you, with those films, there’s star power at the lead to really help carry those two fantastic shows. When Jack Huston is pegged to star as one of the major leads, not everyone will be familiar enough with his resume. He played Pete Musane in American Hustle and I recall seeing him in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. This latest film will not elevate him by any means, although I would love to see him and James McAvoy appear together in any future project. They share a similar type of acting style.
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