Judas

A bad movie, this "Judas". Decidedly that, a terrible movie. It hurt my innards to watch the stilted interactions between the pretty, oh so pretty Jesus and his dark, troubled... I don't even KNOW what, Judas.

It hurt in a strange way, though... the kind of dull, stinging pain that makes you cry out in rage, rend your garments, roll on the floor in agony, then stand up, eat a handful of popcorn and resume watching the movie.

First of all, it's well-known that this movie butchers the Gospels, omits important events, and generally portrays the Savior as a dysfunctional imbecile who plays second fiddle to the troubled Judas (You can tell he's troubled, because he wears dark clothes!), and the only reason it was released at all was so ABC could hopefully ride the "Passion of the Christ" tidal wave and gain some decent ratings for a change. It's clear that the director and writers badly, badly wanted this movie to make an impact on the people, but these people have never heard of nuance, and instead practically force-fed the viewer the "proper" opinions. Never a good way to make a film.

Instead of echoing the poignant performances of "The Passion", the performances in this movie seemed to be channeling Johnathan Schaech's other "menacing, but misunderstood" character from the movie, "That Thing You Do!". I saw far too much of Jimmy in Judas.

I will say, however, that this movie could be a great ally in the fight for the right of gays to marry. Why, Jesus Himself was gay, according to this movie! The "dramatic" scene leading up to Judas' grumble of "Damn you, Jesus" was far too reminiscent of a lovers' spat in a Lifetime movie.

One critic said it best when he wrote, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. I am of course referring to the producers of this drivel." "JUDAS", although dealing (or attempting to deal with) a Christian theme, is a terrible waste of film whether watched from a Christian or non-Christian viewpoint. Besides terrible acting, an awful script, laughable dialogue, an unmoving score, C.G. effects that seem to have been created ten years ago, and a story about as biblically accurate as "MONTY PYTHON AND THE SEARCH FOR THE HOLY GRAIL", it was very hard for me to even imagine what effect the filmmakers were thinking this film would have on it's audience.

The characters actions are motivated by events that contradict what actually took place according to the four gospels and with the acting as it is we really do not know what the characters actions are motivated by at all. The acting in "JUDAS" is something I have never before seen in my life. Not one actor in this movie was even believable – forget compelling and in the filmmakers attempt to "humanize" Jesus He ends up being played not as God enrobed in flesh, savior of the world, or even a wise teacher, but more as a young hippie who is far from all knowing; so far from it, in fact, that throughout the movie we see him constantly confused over what move to make next. (Some scenes with Jesus are so unintelligently done that they border on blasphemous.)

I could continue to write in detail on how terrible this movie was at every level, but to list everything would take hours. Some films just needed a better director, some just need better actors; this film is proof that some should have never been made.

Excellent films concerning the life of Jesus: Mel Gibson's "THE PASSION OF THE Christ." Philip Saville's "THE GOSPEL OF JOHN."

Heavens, this has to be the worst "biblical" movie I have ever seen! The dialogue is so hokey, too much is left out, events are out of chronological sequence-and the actor who plays Jesus-Ay!ay!ay! He's too wimpy, too wussy, his delivery is weak, he sounds like a surfer, which would maybe be okay in a movie dealing with a lighter subject, but NOT here-in plain English the whole thing stinks!. This film should have been left in the can forever. Before Mel Gibson's "Passion" came out,it would have been barely passable. NOW it is just inexcusable! I have seen MG's "Passion", it is a good movie on its own-but compared to this film, it's platinum-"Judas" is not even BASE METAL! Lord have mercy!

Jesus appears to be a surfer who's searching for but can't find the beach to go hang ten. Judas, dressed in black, is an emo who wants to get like totally rad against the Romans and hang ten all over their face. The rest of the cast are card board cut-outs; it's hard to figure out who is playing whom.

The movie appears to be well meaning, but it just goes all wrong. First of all, it takes all its source material from forgotten scripture, the Gospel of Gnarly. The writers come up with stuff that doesn't fit with known scripture, and to say the writer took poetic license is being nice. Jesus comes across as confused, wimpy, and suffering from severe sleep deprivation. Judas just yells and screams at him, so that they can launch a military campaign of two men to overthrow the Roman Empire.

Judas is always mad, and it makes no sense that Jesus would have called this guy as an apostle in the first place. From then on they bicker, with Jesus always sounding like a 1st grade teacher, and Judas sounding like a cross between Fred Flintstone and General George Patton. The fact that the acting is weak makes these awkward characterizations even more bizarre. Events from the passion are tossed and turned, out of context, and out of logical chronology.

This should only be viewed as a novelty, as a case study of just how far a story can stray from source material.

Sadly disappointed the acting was not convincing at all. The film does not sit together and is very inaccurate, it seems to lose focus on the main title character Judas, which by result misses out the point of the film in the first place.

This film does not leave you with any memories at all. There are a few laughs by the choice of dialog, You ask yourself several times 'Did they really say that? The plus side was the soundtrack was undoubtedly the best part of the film. Jesus of Nazareth still runs tops in the *Easter Must watch* joined by the more recent *superb* Passion of Christ.

Blaze