Movie Review > Risen

Over the years there have been some classic Christian films. What may come to mind for you is the…1956 film, The 10 Commandments, starring Charlton Heston, for example. Did you watch the Jesus of Nazareth made-for-TV miniseries starring Robert Powell after it was released in 1977 or re-televised back in 2002? Then came along the blockbuster, movie hit by Mel Gibson back in 2004, The Passion of the Christ, starring Jim Caviezel. Recently, there was Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) as well as Noah (2014), starring Russell Crowe, which had some parts that were historically inaccurate, although they had some pretty impressive, Hollywood, special effects. A year before those two movies, The Bible (miniseries), starring Diogo Morgado, got popular ratings from being shown on the History Channel. The producer of that and the current producer of NBC’s Shark Tank, Mark Burnett along with his wife Roma Downey, followed up with the launch of A.D. – The Bible Continues. It was featured on NBC last year regarding the life of the early Church and the apostles after Jesus’ Resurrection. It’s time again, and we are now ripe for another Christian movie. The movie, Risen just arrived in local theaters as it debuted Thursday, Feb. 18th.

Fr. Sal and I had the chance to watch Risen last Saturday night. What is it about? First, here’s a Spoiler Alert!!! Stop reading now in case you don’t know how the story ends, which, by the way is “Good News!” 😉

This wasn’t a great movie but a decent one. It is about the Resurrection of Jesus told through the eyes of a Roman Tribune, a type of Roman soldier, named Clavius, who reports to his Prefect, Pontus Pilate. Clavius is faced with the assignment along with his aide, Lucius, of trying to orchestrate a way to prove that Jesus’ body was stolen rather than risen. Is he successful? Does Clavius undergo a conversion himself? Without spoiling it, I would say, “watch the movie.” Also, there is a turn of events that brings about great suspense to the point of a pinnacle moment between Clavius and his aide, Lucius. The end of the movie leaves room for a sequel too. Risen contains violence, which is probably why it is rated PG 13 but does not contain any swearing or nudity. A positive point is that the movie length wasn’t excruciatingly long; at a clip of only one hour and forty five minutes. My recommendation would be to wait until it comes out on DVD, and then watch it. Rather than launch this movie at the beginning of Lent, I would have recommended that they launch it on Easter day instead; hence the title of the movie, Risen. Part of the last line of the movie was “Do you believe…?” The question for all of us is do you and I believe in Jesus and that he rose from the dead? Hopefully we can give a resounding, “YES,” and back up our faith with how we live our lives. May we confidently look ahead with faith to the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday night as well as on Easter Sunday when we can truly say, “”Christ is risen! He is risen, indeed!”

To watch the movie trailer go to http://www.risen-movie.com.

– Fr. Jeff