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Movies / On DVD / The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ

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The Passion of the Christ (2004)

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Reviews Counted:259

Fresh:129

Rotten:130

Average Rating:5.9/10

Consensus: The graphic details of Jesus' torture make the movie tough to sit through and obscure whatever message it is trying to convey.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for sequences of graphic violence

Runtime: 2 hrs 22 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Feb 25, 2004 Wide

Box Office: $370,203,632

Synopsis: The Passion of The Christ is a film about the last twelve hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life. The film opens in the Garden of Olives (Gethsemane) where Jesus has gone to pray after the Last Supper.... The Passion of The Christ is a film about the last twelve hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life. The film opens in the Garden of Olives (Gethsemane) where Jesus has gone to pray after the Last Supper. Jesus resists Satan's temptations. Betrayed by Judas Iscariot, Jesus is arrested and taken back to within the city walls of Jerusalem where the leaders of the Pharisees confront him with accusations of blasphemy and his results in a condemnations of death. Jesus is brought before Pilate, the Roman Governor of Palestine, who listens to the accusations leveled at him by the Pharisees. Realizing he is confronting a political conflict, Pilate defers to King Herod in the matter. Herod returns Jesus to Pilate who gives the crowd a choice between Jesus and the criminal Barabbas. The crowd chooses to have Barabbas set free and to condemn Jesus. Jesus is handed over to the Roman soldiers and flagellated. Unrecognizable now, he is brought back before Pilate, who presents him to the crowd as if to say "is this not enough?" It is not. Pilate washes his hands of the entire dilemma, ordering his men to do as the crowd wishes. Jesus is presented with the cross and is ordered to carry it through the streets of Jerusalem all the way up to Golgotha. On Golgotha, Jesus is nailed to the cross and undergoes his last temptation -- the fear that he has been abandoned by his Father. He overcomes his fear, looks at Mary, his Holy Mother, and makes the pronouncement which only she can fully understand, "it is accomplished." He then dies: "into Thy hands I commend my Spirit." At the moment of his death, nature itself overturns. -- © Newmarket Films [More]

Starring: James Caviezel, Maia Morgenstern, Monica Bellucci, Mattia Sbragia

Starring: James Caviezel, Maia Morgenstern, Monica Bellucci, Mattia Sbragia, Claudia Gerini, Luca Lionello, Hristo Shopov

Director: Mel Gibson

Director: Mel Gibson
Screenwriter: Mel Gibson, Benedict Fitzgerald
Producer: Bruce Davey, Stephen McEveety
Composer: John Debney
Studio: Newmarket Films

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Feb 17, 2009

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  • The Passion of the Christ focuses on the last twelve hours of Jesus of Nazareth's life. The film begins in the Garden of Olives where Jesus has gone to pray after the Last Supper. Jesus must resist the temptations of Satan. Betrayed by Judas Iscariot, Jesus is then arrested and taken within the city walls of Jerusalem where leaders of the Pharisees confront him with accusations of blasphemy and his trial results in a condemnation to death.
  • Source: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
  •  
     
     
     

    Reviews for The Passion of the Christ

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    1 - 20 (sorted by date)
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    The film's lack of discretion robs the viewer of his or own conception of Christ's crucifixion. It is an exploitative disservice to "the greatest story ever told," that reduces that illustrious narrative to an extended torture episode.

    Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
    08/26/09
    Cole Smithey
    Cole Smithey
    ColeSmithey.com
    N/R

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
    04/29/09
    Felix Vasquez Jr.
    Felix Vasquez Jr.
    Cinema Crazed

    All [Gibson has] done...is to trade in the Hollywood conventions of yesteryear for the crasser, more bloodthirsty conventions of today.

    Full Review Source: Style Weekly (Richmond, VA) | comment Comment
    05/17/08
    Thomas Peyser
    Thomas Peyser
    Style Weekly (Richmond, VA)

    I emerged from The Passion of the Christ depressed and spiritually bruised.

    Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment 5 Comments
    03/05/08
    Philip French
    Philip French
    Observer [UK]

    Gibson has created an exploitation movie par excellence.

    Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
    03/05/08
    Mark Kermode
    Mark Kermode
    Observer [UK]

    More sensational than spiritual, this blood-soaked take on the Stations of the Cross retells the Gospels as a horror movie. You can't help asking: where has all the love gone?

    Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment 1 Comment
    03/05/08
    Jamie Russell
    Jamie Russell
    Channel 4 Film

    If I were a Christian, I'd be appalled to have this primitive and pornographic bloodbath presume to speak for me.

    Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 15 Comments
    03/05/08
    Jonathan Rosenbaum
    Jonathan Rosenbaum
    Chicago Reader
    Top Critic Icon Top Critic

    For a filmmaker who wants to create an adaptation of the story of Jesus, Mel Gibson's motives seem ironically impure.

    Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
    07/14/07
    Joe Lozito
    Joe Lozito
    Big Picture Big Sound

    Easily the most controversial film of the year, Gibson's fil is a visually bold, relentlessly violent epos that suffers from a shallow, undernourished narrative and no characterizations to speak of.

    Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
    10/05/06
    Emanuel Levy
    Emanuel Levy
    EmanuelLevy.Com

    By giving us the feeling of experiencing Jesus' thoughts, and by making us privy to his prayers, The Passion draws us toward Christ's full humanity like no film before.

    Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
    09/27/06
    Peter T. Chattaway
    Peter T. Chattaway
    Christianity Today

    Gibson's passion is all over this film...but his resorting to mawkish, superficial tactics blows the tone off-course from time to time

    Full Review Source: Perihelion Journal | comment Comment
    09/11/06
    Jay Antani
    Jay Antani
    Perihelion Journal

    Mr. Gibson has plucked at the rawest of nerves yet I cannot blame him. He is expressing himself through the medium of film and using the text of his bible as the basis.

    Full Review Source: Bangitout.com | comment Comment
    08/16/06
    Jordan Hiller
    Jordan Hiller
    Bangitout.com

    A tormented movie about torment; loopy, over-reaching and occasionally suspicious. Simultaneously, it is a daring artistic endeavour.

    Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
    04/01/06
    Ian Nathan
    Ian Nathan
    Empire Magazine

    A negative and spiritually underwhelming experience.

    Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
    02/09/06
    Wally Hammond
    Wally Hammond
    Time Out

    Incredibly intense, unflichingly realistic and powerfully moving...One of the all-time great cinematic achievements...God bless Mel Gibson.

    Full Review Source: Fantastica Daily | comment 7 Comments
    12/20/05
    Chuck O'Leary
    Chuck O'Leary
    Fantastica Daily

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
    12/06/05
    Film Threat

    One of the best films of this middle-aged decade.

    Full Review Source: FromTheBalcony | comment Comment
    06/26/05
    Bill Clark
    Bill Clark
    FromTheBalcony

    Sick.

    Full Review Source: Lessons of Darkness | comment Comment
    05/04/05
    Nick Schager
    Nick Schager
    Lessons of Darkness

    Click to read the article

    Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
    03/14/05
    Garth Franklin
    Garth Franklin
    Dark Horizons

    Father forgive them - Jesus whipped

    Full Review Source: JWR | comment 5 Comments
    03/11/05
    S. James Wegg
    S. James Wegg
    JWR
     
     
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