Plot and leads fail to deliver the goods

Rating: 4/10 (16 September 2012)

This film is a remake of an earlier film based on a 19th century novel by Lew Wallace.
It tells the story of a Judean prince, Judah Ben-Hur, who is condemned into slavery for a crime he did not commit by the man who was his best friend as a child, Messala. Ben-Hur is driven to return to Jerusalem to exact revenge against Messala.
There are many good things about this film - the sets, the cinematography, the costumes and the supporting cast. However, the major flaws of the film are the script and the lead actors: these are terrible.
The script is very cheesy, making as many biblical references as possible. It also attempts to give the impression of being historically accurate, which is bizarre. The inaccuracies are almost as long the book.
The Romans and the Jews were allies, and had fought together. Jew legions supported Caesar Augustus to defeat Marc Antony in North Africa. Consequently, Jerusalem was exempted from the erection idols. Also, the Jewish religious leaders at the time were collaborating with their Roman overlords and making the governor rich. So rebellion was far from the mind of the Jewish leaders.
Also the reference to "patriots" is simply anachronistic. I could go on with this, but it would not be useful.
The two lead actors - Charlton Heston and Haya Harareet - neither are convincing and they are both very wooden and completely out of their depth. The support actors carry them - showing much more skill and conveying much more of the story and the emotional impact.
The plot is also rather meandering, and has many rather confusing jumps. Why would Messala start asking Ben-Hur to inform at their first meeting? Why would he not then use the leverage of tile against him to inform, instead of sending him away? Why would he consent to the marriage of the slave girl he loves to a man she doesn't care for? Then comes the most confusing part, on the galleys, Ben-Hur is unchained. when the galley is rammed, he is able to escape, freeing the other slaves. When he comes above, instead of joining the pirates and therefore freedom to escape back to Jerusalem and revenge, he fights for his Roman captors. Why? The famous chariot race is staged like a NASCAR race - together with the pace cars, I mean pace horses. This is a spectacular sequence - but it is made absurd by the 20th century sensibilities: of the Boadicea blades on Messala's chariot, the stretcher bearers running out comically to collect the battered bodies, Pilate announcing the drivers &c.
Another problem is that Ben-Hur's mother and sister were locked away in solitary confinement for years while he was away. Somehow they contracted leprosy without contact with anyone - this is never explained.
Despite the wonderful sets, costumes, pageantry and support cast, this film falls down on the basics - the plot and the lead actors failed to deliver.