The latest “Ben-Hur” film is directed by Timur Bekmambetov from a script by Keith R. Clarke and John Ridley.

    The celebrated 1959 version of the saga*, once the most Oscar-winning picture of all time, clocked in at almost four hours. The silent version was about two hours and 20 minutes. This movie gets the job done in exactly two hours. The films are based on a novel by Union Army General Lew Wallace in 1880.

    The film begins as Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston) and his onetime friend Messala (Toby Kebbell) are facing off* in a chariot* race. The scene is just a preview, and we flashback* to Judah Ben-Hur’s noble household in Jerusalem eight years before, and see Judah and his Roman adopted brother Messala riding horses together carefree, until an accident places Judah in the care of his friend.

    Wallace’s novel was subtitled “A Tale of the Christ,” and this movie has more Christ in it than any previous version.

    When first seen, Jesus (Rodrigo Santoro) is carving wood, and overhearing* a conversation between Judah and his later-to-be-converted wife Esther (Nazanin Boniadi), he gently pipes up, “Love your enemies.” “Love your enemies? That’s very progressive*,” Judah answers.

    Soon, when he’s stripped* of his home and family and enslaved on a galley ship, he will have the opportunity to turn those words over. Surviving a shipwreck, he returns to his homeland to seek revenge*, but finds redemption*.

    The sea battle during which Judah makes his escape is impressive — one of those scenes that makes you to exhale when it’s finally over. The chariot race, too, is both watchable and coherent*. Lead actors Huston and Kebbell are both believable in their roles.

    Does the movie radically rearrange both its source material and that material’s most famous adaptation? It sure does. This is a “Ben-Hur” of and for its time, but also a little better than its time, it turns out. It may not be an effective delivery system for its Christian message, but it is definitely a good popcorn movie*. (SD-Agencies)