Furthermore, whereas the galley/naval battle scene was done better in 1959, this version's chariot race may actually end up being my favorite for being incredibly brutal and raising the stakes even higher for its protagonist. In fact, where in previous versions Messala turns into a cartoonish villain as the story progresses, here he remains sympathetic throughout and shares near equal screen time with the protagonist. (I am familiar with all of these by the way.) The narrative framework revolves almost entirely upon the friendship and rivalry between Judah Ben-Hur and Messala. In fact, it sports advantages over its predecessors whether it's the 1886 novel by Lew Wallace, the original 1925 silent film, or the classic and beloved 1959 movie directed by William Wyler.
Ben-Hur 2016 wanders into generic modern remake territory occasionally, but what it does it does well. And I was completely wrong, as Ben-Hur proves a more solid retelling than anyone anticipated or even deserved. It was, truth be told, a film that I looked forward to eviscerating - an example of Hollywood gone wrong with big budget filmmaking, relying more upon name recognition than actual content or inspiration.
Ben-Hur epitomizes the ill-advised remake that no wanted to see and no wanted to make.
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