Ben-Hur (2016)
Directed by Timur Bekmambetov
A falsely accused nobleman survives years of slavery to take vengeance on his best friend who betrayed him.
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5 films that influenced Ben-Hur
What critics say influenced Ben-Hur
After all, Nicholas Ray was an agnostic, but that didn’t stop him from directing one of the best of the religious epics, the 1961 “King of Kings.”
Even if you haven’t seen the 1959 Oscar Best Picture version of Ben-Hur , in which the chariot race was an action spectacular unlike any the big screen had ever seen before, you have definitely seen the pod race in Star Wars: The Phantom Menace , which borrows heavily from it .
The sixth filmed version (a mini-series, two silent films, an animation and the famous one), it also follows the likes of Gladiator and The Phantom Menace, which riffed on different elements of the story or the action.
In Ben-Hur, the story of Jesus runs parallel to that of Judah Ben-Hur, like a less-fun Life of Brian.
Why remake “Ben Hur” (1959), the epic sword-and-sandals adventure that set an Oscar record, sweeping 11 out of the 12 categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler) and Best Actor (Charlton Heston)?
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A training scene in which Ilderim (Freeman) instructs Ben-Hur that he must master the art of the “tilt”—raising the chariot onto one wheel as it goes around a bend, like a Roman equivalent of the “Tokyo drift”—seems to promise as much.