Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Son of God

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Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 03-13-2014, 07:26 PM:

I didn't really know what to expect when I started watching this movie. I figured it might be "amateur hour" on the screen, and in that regard I was pleasantly surprised. It's quite well made and while it's a bit on the long side, it's not boring or dragged-out. I guess they need the length to get the story into it.

One thing that I noticed (and it bugged me a bit) was one of the official's hats that had a strap and a buckle under his chin; the buckle was a modern cheap alloy buckle (probably made in China). And since he had a few close-ups during the show, that buckle really showed up. I'm pretty sure nobody else will notice that, though, so it doesn't matter.

This movie is classified "PG-Violence" in Saskatchewan. It gets rather gruesome toward the end with the beating and whipping and nailing down and whatnot, so if it was up to me I would have said it was a 14A movie, not PG. But what do I know. The people coming to see it will know what they're going to see: I had one fellow yesterday asking if it will be playing on Friday and when I told him it was he said, "Gosh, that's going to be a real cliffhanger. I wonder how it will end."

Overall I would say this movie is not bad. It's not great; I can think of a lot of movies that are a lot better than this, but it's worth the time that it takes to watch it.

Hopefully there won't be too many parents who bring small children to this one, due to both the length of the thing and the violence. But we'll see. I have had a fair number of people asking about this one who aren't the usual people who come here to see movies, so it might draw a different crowd than what I see most weeks.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-14-2014, 12:07 AM:

We had originally planned to play this one on the break but due to the fact that I was feeling almost zero "buzz" on it from locals, we decided to wait on it. I was comparing with "The Passion of the Christ" where I was getting asked when we would play it almost from the minute it started being promoted. On this one, almost nothing.

I attribute it mostly to two things: 1, people know it's mostly recycled "The Bible" footage and don't care to see it again; and 2, people saw "The Passion of the Christ" (and may have seen it again on video) and don't feel the need to see the same story yet again.

Posted by Frank Cox (Member # 6258) on 03-14-2014, 12:57 AM:

One thing I'll say for this movie is that the trailer is a dandy. It shows you enough to get you interested but not so much that you figure you've already seen the movie. And I get a kick out of the last line in the trailer: "I am coming soon."

As soon as I put the poster for this one in my window I started having people that I've never seen before coming in the door in the evenings while the show was on to ask when it's going to be playing. Hopefully that will translate into people actually coming to the show, but I've been fooled that way before. A hundred people will see a poster and be asking about it, and none of them show up when the movie is here. (I'm sure we've all had that experience many times.)

I had a chap from a religious radio station that's apparently not too far from here (though I've never had anything to do with them before) come here this afternoon to get information about the showtimes from me and he said that they're going to be flogging it as part of their programming for the few days. Suits me! [Smile]

It's going to be very interesting to see what happens tomorrow night. This movie is a real wild card and I have no idea if I'll see a packed house or three people.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-23-2014, 08:57 PM:

We are playing it right now. We've had good crowds, but not the size I expected. It's been fairly underwhelming.

I have another theory besides what I posted above about why this hasn't been the phenomenon I initially thought it might be: Because it's not a "good time at the movies." It's hard to watch. These days with all the ridiculousness in the world, people look to the movies to get away from stress; this movie is an endurance test, especially at the end.

And, the acting and script aren't all that good; too many modern bits mix in with the biblical-sounding dialogue, such as, Peter: "What are we going to do?" Jesus: "Change the world."

The production values are top notch and the film looks great, but it gets really overbearing with the music and pounding drums and choirs towards the end. I still think the best-rendered version of the crucifixion of Jesus is the one in "Ben-Hur."

2 out of 5 stars from me.