The greatest story ever told? I don't know about that, but it remains a real humdinger.
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10/22/03
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The Gospel of John (2003)
38
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:48
Fresh:18
Rotten:30
Average Rating:5/10
Theatrical Release:Sep 26, 2003 Limited
Box Office: $3,862,285
Synopsis: A momentous undertaking involving a creative constituency of award-winning artists and esteemed academic and theological consultants from around the world, Visual Bible's THE GOSPEL OF JOHN is an... [More]
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Reviews for The Gospel of John
While it's hard to deny the longstanding inspirational effectiveness of John's message, its value as a screenplay is less obvious.
11/07/03
This slavish faithfulness to scripture is death to theatrical standards of drama.
11/25/03
Whatever this is, it sure isn't cinema. There's no adaptation, no reconfiguration of the material from one medium to another.
04/16/04
The sad truth is that director Philip Saville and writer John Goldsmith have made a picture book rather than a film, one that leans so heavily on Christopher Plummer's placid voice-over narration as to be cinematically inert.
04/02/04
Top CriticEvents unfold as chronological vignettes, and there's little room for screenwriter John Goldsmith to reimagine scenes to mine their full dramatic potential.
04/01/04
Top Criticas for the text itself that has the Jews egging Pilate on, well, it is what it is. And that would be less than philo-semetic.
02/15/04
If you can come out of a 3-hour movie and say, 'Wow', then it must be divine.
09/26/03
A slugglishly painful, uninteresting film that might be of value to New Testament students who don't like to read words unless they come with pictures.
11/07/04
I found this Gospel long, dull and, for the most part, acted without apparent inspiration.
02/13/04
Top CriticA word-for-word adaptation of the New Testament book ... Nothing was added and nothing was omitted.
01/15/04
[Saville's] ability to serve the text is remarkable, and he is able to demonstrate that the story of Christ is extraordinarily powerful, whether we regard these events as divine or not.
11/03/03
Though I approached The Gospel of John with some trepidation, I've now seen the film twice and consider it to be an extraordinary achievement.
11/14/03
An artful, well-made production.
04/01/04
There is barely a whisper of the spirit, the lifeblood, the passion that has marked the cinema's most memorable explorations of Jesus' life.
11/12/03
Top CriticDespite its apparently Bible Belt-focused release strategy, the film might actually alienate the faithful thanks to a plodding pace.
09/26/03
A hero, especially a tragic hero, becomes empathetic when his own actions collide with the hand of Fate. But when the crucified hero is an all-powerful God, when his free will is the only determinism, Fate goes out the window and with it, our sympathies.
10/24/03
Top CriticWhether you believe Jesus was the Messiah, it is a powerful experience. The movie's images stick.
10/24/03
Top CriticFeels like the longest Sunday school class ever.
01/15/04
A slick, earnest, ultimately inert adaptation of the eponymous book of the Bible.
11/14/03
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