La Última Cena

Ok, l love a good story but let's stick to The Book. No amount of creative license can make the story better. You can never top the Holy Spirit as an author. If you feel the need to inject info into the story for continuity, that's ok but to change events is not and this retelling does just that. The actor playing Judas was superb but there's a reason he didn't hang himself in the city street. John was too old for this part. The women running was odd take and had no context. The disciples fishing a week after the crucifixion in a deep state of depression? Jesus appeared 3 days after His death to the disciples which is a corner stone of theology.

I appreciate that so many Christian filmmakers have, and still are creating stories to introduce Jesus to the world. Some turn out great and some are mediocre. Thankfully this falls in the good category. It's interesting the artistic license each creator brings to their project. The spectrum ranges from the heretical to the divinely inspired word for word renditions. Again, this one holds closer to the exact stories in the Bible, though not word for word, so I put that in the good direction. The perfectionist diehards might point out the whole cast isn't made up of people who look like they grew up in the middle east. Personally I don't get as upset at that as some might. I thought the set design, location, cinematography, music, and a little bit of CGI was really good. The script was compelling as they told a very old story from a slightly different angle. I didn't recognize any of the cast but I thought they did a good job with each of their characters as their arc's unfolded. It was a good movie to kick off the 2025 Easter season and I could see myself watching it again in the future. I read a couple of negative reviews that thought the pacing was slow. Personally I didn't find that to be the case. Another person complained some of the conversations weren't biblical. Well, I can give a pass to that to some extent. A little artistic license didn't ruin the story for me. Yet another person said it was like a TV movie and low budget. I think people who make comments like that have no idea how expensive it is to make a movie and how hard it is to raise the funds. Also, releasing it is theaters first can sometimes boost the chances of making the money back. I personally still like seeing movies on the big screen and this one was created on a big enough scale to look good on the big screen. Hopefully people will also give it a chance once it goes to streaming. The more people support content like this, the more filmmakers will have the funds to keep creating. People complain there isn't enough quality content. There would be if people would support these creators. Lastly there was a complaint that Jesus acted depressed and joyless the whole time. Well, this is covering the last couple of days of Jesus' time on earth and he knew exactly what was going to happen to him. I think it is understandable that he might feel a little sad about it. 1. He is going to leave the people he cares about knowing life on earth can be hard. 2. He knew how he was going to die and horrific is an understatement. If they had written Jesus as the life of the party and happy go lucky the couple of days before his death that would have seemed disingenuous to say the least.

When you think about it, the best movies ever made, The Godfather and The Godfather 2, although loosely adapted from Shakespeare's King Lear, is very biblical in its ancient-based Italian-sourced deceptions and power struggles...

And here was an opportunity for that original muse to imitate its imitator, having the two central characters, Judas and Peter, at surreptitious odds leading to the titular Last Supper, which, plot-wise, is hardly even treated like a light snack here...

And while the acting was surprisingly decent, it was far too obvious who was who...

For example, in the opening Feeding of the 500 scene: even if it were a silent film, the way one of the disciples timidly ducked his head into a shady cloak, it was obviously Judas, and he never let go of those contrived physical mannerisms, as if he were playing a junky-snitch on an episode of Kojak...

Meanwhile, Peter, while not badly cast, looking like a genuinely rugged fisherman, doesn't do enough to merit the inner-struggle he goes through during the initial prediction of the betrayal, and then the betrayal itself...

It's almost like The Last Supper was trying to recreate a sort of after-game-highlights version of Mel Gibson's Passion (including the horror-trope Satan and the harshly whipped Jesus) more than narrowing itself into an effective thriller with built-in treacherous suspense straight from the source material... making the last half feel like an eternity.

There is nothing special about this movie. All the characters have English translated names, Jesus, Peter, etc., not their originals: Yehoshua, Cephas, etc. Acting, cinematography, script, are so mediocre. Not a movie that you should see, except you are a devout Christian, Jesus Freak, or somebody who eager to learn Christianity from the basic. The producer or director claims that this movie is historically accurate. But it isn't actually. Its better to watch Martin Scorsese's "The Last Temptations of Christ" or probably Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ". Or Mormon cartoon propaganda ia more interesting for me. 😇

Considering this movie was produced by a well known Christian Artist, it was very disappointing that it was a bit bizarre and unscriptural. It is understanding that there is going to be dialogue and events that will not be portrayed in the Bible. It is not acceptable when events in the Bible are distorted or completely false.

I was looking forward to seeing this movie with great anticipation, so it was a significant disappointment. I am waiting for the next sequence of The Chosen, which I have no doubt will present the Last Supper with great reverence and accuracy.

If Chris Tomlin produces another Christian story, hopefully he will do so with more accuracy.