Hey, I don’t believe it literally, but it is a movie, after all -- it’s a great story, too, certainly as compelling as “Dead Man Walking.”
Comment
04/13/04
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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.
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.... [More]
Starring: James Caviezel, Maia Morgenstern, Monica Bellucci, Mattia Sbragia
Director: Mel Gibson
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Reviews for The Passion of the Christ
Gibson turns the thing into a bloody shock spectacle; he implicates the viewers like the Jews who watched the crucifixion and beatings as entertainment.
04/11/04
I found the film more numbing than moving, as if the transformation it charted was not from human to divine, but from man to carcass.
04/09/04
And any power these explicit scenes have is in any case undermined by the absurd tweeness of the final moments.
04/09/04
It's a head-bashing experience, by turns exhausting, exhilarating, and infuriating.
04/06/04
I wanted to be moved. Really, I did. A lot. Instead, I left cold.
04/04/04
like a ballet where physical movements are used to show pain, heartache, evil and suffering
04/02/04
La conmoción deja paso al rechazo o a la admiración con que los maquilladores lograron esas heridas en el cuerpo del actor (lo que se asemeja mucho a la indiferencia).
03/29/04
The entire event is gut-wrenching, but Mel Gibson makes a movie that gives you the guts without the wrench. His Jesus is a whipping post.
03/27/04
Beautiful, violent -- and also funny for all the wrong reasons, and boring.
03/26/04
If you want to get offended by a Mel Gibson movie, nothing is worse than the portrayal of slavery in The Patriot. Yeah, everyone is a happy free voluntary worker.
03/26/04
"The Passion" is big, physical, violent and unflinching. It's unlike any biblical film ever made and it's impossible to watch it with a trace of passivity.
03/25/04
When audiences walk out of theaters in stunned silence, I’m not sure it is for the same reasons director Mel Gibson wanted.
03/24/04
This problem of truth -- how it might be defined, known, or told -- underlies most all of Mel Gibson's film.
03/23/04
pretentious cinematography and gritty realism aside, there’s not a whole lot in this torture chamber to be passionate about
03/22/04
A high-gloss exploitation picture, obsessed with the Death Jesus conquered, rather than the Life he gave -- and gives.
03/19/04
If Gibson imagined that this extended detailing of sadism would somehow be inspirational, he needs to be taken off his biblical steroids.
03/18/04
Mel's rockpile is akin to taking Oliver Twist (another well-thumbed literary tome) and focusing entirely on the scene in which Bill Sykes bludgeons Nancy to death.
03/18/04
Gibson dwells on the gory details of laceration -- one whipping after another and another and another -- until it's the viewer who's tortured, hurt, defensive, and, finally, numb (if not driven to retaliate).
03/16/04
The Passion of the Christ is something of a masterpiece, terrible to behold, unfit for children, certainly, but very much the work of a director in the throes of his own distinct passion.
03/16/04
Latest News for The Passion of the Christ
October 03, 2008:
Further Reading: Marion Cotillard and Forest Whittaker in Abel Ferrara's Mary
As the NFT in London prepares a Juliette Binoche season, Kim looks at Abel Ferrara's Mary which also stars Marion Cotillard and Forest Whittaker. More...
May 16, 2008:
Hollywood's Prayers for Spiritual Revenue Go Unanswered 
As The Passion of the Christ proved, there's a lot of money in so-called "faith-based" film marketing -- but it's proving disappointingly elusive for the major studios. More...
February 27, 2007:
James Cameron's "Jesus" Doco Causes Controversy
The James Cameron-produced documentary called "The Lost Tomb of Jesus" is causing a whole lot of stir among the religious community for trying to assert that, after... More...
February 05, 2007:
Box Office Guru Wrapup: "Messengers" Scores Slim Win Over Super Bowl Weekend
With the Super Bowl taking males out of the picture, mothers and daughters squared off at the North American box office this weekend with the younger set earning a slim victory.... More...
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