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Movies / Upcoming / The Passion of the Christ
The Passion of the Christ

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The Passion of the Christ (2004)

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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.

Runtime: 2 hrs 22 mins

Genre: Dramas

US 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

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Reviews for The Passion of the Christ

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
03/14/05
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: In Film Australia | comment Comment
03/16/04
Luke Buckmaster
Luke Buckmaster
In Film Australia
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Irrespective of your religious beliefs, Mel Gibson’s brutal depiction of the most renowned story of sacrifice and love is distressing to the very core.

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
02/24/04
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film's lack of discretion robs the viewer of his or own conception of Christ's crucifixion. It is an exploitative disservice to "the greatest story ever told," that reduces that illustrious narrative to an extended torture episode.

Full Review Source: ColeSmithey.com | comment Comment
08/26/09
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

All [Gibson has] done...is to trade in the Hollywood conventions of yesteryear for the crasser, more bloodthirsty conventions of today.

Full Review Source: Style Weekly (Richmond, VA) | comment Comment
05/17/08
Thomas Peyser
Thomas Peyser
Style Weekly (Richmond, VA)

I emerged from The Passion of the Christ depressed and spiritually bruised.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment 5 Comments
03/05/08
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

Gibson has created an exploitation movie par excellence.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
03/05/08
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
Observer [UK]

More sensational than spiritual, this blood-soaked take on the Stations of the Cross retells the Gospels as a horror movie. You can't help asking: where has all the love gone?

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment 1 Comment
03/05/08
Jamie Russell
Jamie Russell
Channel 4 Film

If I were a Christian, I'd be appalled to have this primitive and pornographic bloodbath presume to speak for me.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 15 Comments
03/05/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

For a filmmaker who wants to create an adaptation of the story of Jesus, Mel Gibson's motives seem ironically impure.

Full Review Source: Big Picture Big Sound | comment Comment
07/14/07
Joe Lozito
Joe Lozito
Big Picture Big Sound

Easily the most controversial film of the year, Gibson's fil is a visually bold, relentlessly violent epos that suffers from a shallow, undernourished narrative and no characterizations to speak of.

Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | comment Comment
10/05/06
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

By giving us the feeling of experiencing Jesus' thoughts, and by making us privy to his prayers, The Passion draws us toward Christ's full humanity like no film before.

Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
09/27/06
Peter T. Chattaway
Peter T. Chattaway
Christianity Today

Gibson's passion is all over this film...but his resorting to mawkish, superficial tactics blows the tone off-course from time to time

Full Review Source: Perihelion Journal | comment Comment
09/11/06
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Perihelion Journal

Mr. Gibson has plucked at the rawest of nerves yet I cannot blame him. He is expressing himself through the medium of film and using the text of his bible as the basis.

Full Review Source: Bangitout.com | comment Comment
08/16/06
Jordan Hiller
Jordan Hiller
Bangitout.com

A tormented movie about torment; loopy, over-reaching and occasionally suspicious. Simultaneously, it is a daring artistic endeavour.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
04/01/06
Ian Nathan
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A negative and spiritually underwhelming experience.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/09/06
Wally Hammond
Wally Hammond
Time Out

Incredibly intense, unflichingly realistic and powerfully moving...One of the all-time great cinematic achievements...God bless Mel Gibson.

Full Review Source: Fantastica Daily | comment 7 Comments
12/20/05
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

One of the best films of this middle-aged decade.

Full Review Source: FromTheBalcony | comment Comment
06/26/05
Bill Clark
Bill Clark
FromTheBalcony
 
 
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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 Opens in new window
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...

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