Gibson has too much belligerence in him to capture the Prince of Peace at His and our most glorious moment.
The Passion of the Christ (2004)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
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.... 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
Get This Movie
Rent DVD
Click on the "ADD" button to put this movie into your Netflix queue.
Buy DVD
Release:
Feb 17, 2009
Reviews for The Passion of the Christ
I expected to leave my viewing of the film feeling battered and bruised, but instead I felt very peaceful. Seeing the strength required for forgiveness uplifted me.
For moviegoers who don’t share Mel Gibson’s religious agenda, it’s nothing but an unpleasant experience.
Powerful and heart-wrenching, gorgeous to look at, and fascinating to contemplate. All issues of religion aside, those components generally result in a film worth seeing.
It is a film worth seeing and talking about, for better or worse. It gets some things very right, but the violence threatens to overshadow the message.
It's tough not to describe without using the word "powerful." For pure cinematic artistry it's a masterpiece showing man's inhumanity to man, or in this case, the Son of Man
The Passion of the Christ is painstakingly true to its source material, neither editorializing nor embellishing upon what is taught each week in thousands upon thousands of churches across the globe.
Puts us in a situation where we can't help but feel Jesus's pain. If only Gibson had taken the time to tell more of us why it mattered.
Watching this is a shocking, grim, harrowing experience. Audiences should leave in the spirit of exaltation; instead, they're simply exhausted.
Poetic filmmaking drawing on--and continuing--a long tradition of religious art.
Whatever demons fueled Mel Gibson's longtime passion to mount this work, no redemption is to be found in the one-dimensional result.
Jesus is confronted by King Herod of Judea who appears to be a Boy George impersonator. Herod asks Jesus for a miracle: Can Cher please be born 2,000 years earlier?
Despite Gibson's efforts to hide Caviezel's European heritage behind a prosthetic nose and darkened eyes, Jesus comes off looking like all other movie depictions-Whitewashed.
No other film in history has even attempted such a concentrated interpretation of these unimaginable events let alone do so with what I call such reverential explicitness.
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...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| 32% 32% | Terminator Salvation |
| 36% 36% | Angels & Demons |
| 95% 95% | Star Trek |
| 25% 25% | Four Christmases |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 78% 78% | The Hangover |
| 49% 49% | Taking Woodstock |
| 26% 26% | The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard |
| 47% 47% | The Girl From Monaco |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Around The Network
- The Passion of the Christ at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Passion of the Christ at IGN
- The Passion of the Christ at AskMen
Fresh Links
Featured

Techland lists the best Sci-Fi films of this decade.

Moviefone takes a look back at the biggest stinkers of the past 10 years.

The Me and Orson Welles star answers reader questions on TIME.com.

Hollywood.com's C. Robert Cargill offers his thoughts on what the best decade for film was.

In the AV Club's "Scenic Routes," Mike D'Angelo reminisces about the Tim Burton film.
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic


