Morgan Freeman’s character – a shrewd but honest merchant who cannot resist a good bet – is sagely wise enough, and he carries it off with effortless ease. All in all, justice has been done to this tale of epic scale.

The comparisons to the 1959 film of the same name are inevitable. And because they belong to different eras, play out differently. The good news, that despite it not being superior to the 1959 film, it’s well worth your time and stands on its own, despite its… shorter running time.

On the whole BEN-HUR that is set around the last days of Christ does have a lot of references to the Christian faith that could leave the audience who are uninformed about the faith, a bit lost. However, BEN-HUR despite its lengthy run time does make for a decent watch.

Beltrami’s music enhances the viewing experience and, overall, as mentioned earlier, this is a well-made epic that gives you the essence of the subject, but is definitely not comparable to the earlier classic.

Beltrami’s music enhances the viewing experience and, overall, as mentioned earlier, this is a well-made epic that gives you the essence of the subject, but is definitely not comparable to the earlier classic.