Chasing the Star

This came up as suggested for Christmas, and oh how I wish it hadn't. I have no idea what the point of this movie was. Each of the magi except for balshazar were made out to be irreverent and.regretful. Herod's portrayal was more appropriate for a psycho thriller. It felt as if at least 70% of the movie was flashbacks about each of the magi's individual and quite pathetic pasts. The acting wasn't worthy of B grade. Some characters had lovely accents, but most sounded like mechanics or truck drivers, completely off from the characters they portrayed. There were also quite a few pointless plot elements that were just stupid and inappropriate, and in some cases cruel and mean. It felt like the writers and directors of this film were disturbed or really wanted to put out a dark drama, but for some reason chose something sacred to defile instead. I am all for introducing humanity into modern day retellings of historic and biblical events (hello, The Chosen). But this was beyond awful. The never ending dark and sinister music, the teenage angst style behaviors of people who were supposed to be wise men... it was all just really bad. The cover image of this movie showing the beautiful star and 3 camels needs to be scrapped, because it reflects nothing of this movie's dark and sinister tone. That image is deceiving.

I admitt, I like it. Yes, it is far to be a great movie and accuracy is not exactly its basic virtue. But it has the gift to propose a new perspective about a very familiar story. And it represents a puzzle of personal stories, touching and dramatic in some measure. And it does a reasonable job in this sense. In essence, no surprises because, from the first part, you know the tone and the vision and the idea of director about manner to tell the story. The big problem - the didacticism of the dialogue between Archangel Gabriel and Devil and the actor in the role of Archangel . But that are only details. The result - it represents more than a Christmas film but a nice portrait of vulnerability and reconciliation with yourself.

Whoever said this was biblically accurate has clearly not read the Bible.

Also, the acting was horrifically bad. By the time one of the "wise men" said, "It is what it is." I knew the movie was irredeemable.

We were hoping to love this based on the other reviews. Raised in church, went to seminary. Wanted to find a new Christmas favorite. Sadly, this is not it.

Absolutely, positively a total waste of time.

I was hoping for a different perspective... but I am always open to screenplays taking license with a very "open" subject. Almost nothing is known about the (3) wise men, other than they came from the "east", they brought gifts, and they left Judea without "touching base" with Herod. If you expect and find a screenplay that is "biblically accurate", you will end up with The Passion of the Christ; nothing else in western filmography is even close. It may be useful to reread your bible, folks. What you will find here is putting some background to (three) men's lives that in no way conflicts with what is known about them. I was especially drawn to the evil that enveloped Herod. He was a real piece of work, custom made for a place in hell.

...where do I begin? Either a High School project or a 2nd year college exam. The language is awful, it's a mixture of old and new English, the filming is all modern motion, and the settings...oh myy, more like 19th century than first century. This movie could have been a great retelling but apparently it must have had a very very low budget. A waste for actress Yancy Butler, she must have donated her time. I hope someone else decides to remake it with better dialogue, acting, and sets, and most of all, heart.