Look, The Passion was good for what it was... spreading the word about Christ and his sacrifice and what he endured for us. I'm not religious, but I'm not anti-religion either. I take everything I know and hear with a grain of salt. But I think this movie is getting way too much attention just because it's the story of Christ. If this movie was about the sacrifice and torment of somebody we've never even heard of before, this movie wouldn't have been given so much recognition. Controversy drives the media and this movie certainly was a perfect bullseye for the public eye. How rediculous is it that you are all arguing about each others opinions? That's exactly what they are, other peoples... OPINIONS. The word 'opinion' pretty much says all by itself, that the thoughts of the person who speaks their 'opinion', belongs to THEM and ONLY them. They are not speaking for everybody. Believers, non-believers, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference. The movie was definitely good for a lesson about humanity. The movie was good for teaching us about tolerance. Although the movie is good to put different messages across by the viewer, religious or not, it still doesn't make it a 'great' movie by any means. As a movie in and of itself, there's no background, no character development, no nothing. It's filmed on the assumption that you know who all these people are, and you are familiar with the story of Christ. Now, I'm not saying there IS anybody out there like this but:
Imagine if somebody just never happened to hear about 'church' or 'jesus' or anything like that. This movie was just a completely new idea to whomever this person is watching it. Would this movie still be considered great? No. There are a lot of you letting 'do you believe in Christ', get mixed up with 'Is this a good movie'. It's not a 'good' movie. And it's not a 'bad' movie. And the only reason why it's not a 'bad' movie, is that we know about Christ, and if it's all true, and even if none of it is true, we all know about what is written in the bible more or less. These final hours of Christ, are put together in the form of this film, to teach us just how much he went through, and the pain in the movie, symbolizes his tolerance. Good use of symbolism in this movie, I'll give it that. But guys guys guys.... stop fighting. Your argument is getting repetitious and with each post, you're all getting MUCH further away from the point... which is 'When Is The Passion Coming To DVD?' And if we're discussing how good the movie is... great. But I hope you can see how easy some of you are letting personal belief control how you feel about the movie as a movie... I'm really being repetitious myself now, but even though I'm hypocrisizing myself about being repetitious, I have to say once again: Truly and honestly put aside your beliefs and judge this movie for what it is. Do you REALLY think this film is Oscar worthy by any means?

I wrote a 'before' and 'after' review on this somewhere else on the net... and here it is::::



To start off, I think it would be a good idea to post what my first thoughts of the film was, before I saw it.... since this movie obviously doesn't need to be described for, or have an appropriate introduction. If you're out in the dark on this one, then damn, where the hell have you been?


"I'm seeing this movie either tonight, or tomorrow night. But from everything that I'm reading, it seems that you hear the same thing:

The movie is very violent.

Don't take your kids.

Mel Gibson is obsessed with the torment of christ.

The movie lacks the spiritualistic emphasis from the story of the last 12 hours of christ.


Okay... I haven't even seen the movie yet but... I would have expected most of America to be a little more intelligent than what they are. Too many people are worried about the movie being violent, and not really showing the 'spiritualistic' side of the last 12 hours of christ?

If anything, I think that's what will probably make this movie even better for me when I see it. Now, I'm not really a religious person at all. But even if I was, it would still be all the same to me I suppose.

This movie, so it seems to me, was filmed in a way that if you took a time machine back to when Jesus was crucified, this is what would have probably happened. Of course there's no 'spiritualistic' messages to brighten up the movie. That's not what it's about. If you went back in time to witness this, more than likely, you'd have this movie. Every picture you always see of Jesus carrying the cross, or being up on the cross... you see like, two drops of blood from each wound. That's rediculous. Jesus was beaten, tortured, and crucified. It was NOT a glamorous thing. The bible focuses on how he was crucified to die for all of our sins, and then his resurrection, blah blah blah. This movie, focuses on the events that led up to the crucifiction, in the way that they most likely happened. It wasn't pretty, at all... and finally, we have a director who has the balls to tell the story of these final hours, as they were, not how they were written. Mel Gibson is showing us the story of Christ's 'passion'. If you didn't feel passionately enough about something, why else would you sacrifice yourself completely and totally to mass amounts of torture, and crucifiction? Just because he died for our sins, and in the long run seemed to be a decent a noble thing to do for all of us, doesn't mean that when the story is told, it should be watered down. Because hey, what really happened WAS for the better in his eyes, and many others for all time to come thereafter, was ALSO a very dark and depressing period of time as well. The fact that this movie could/should be so shocking and realistic, shows us a couple of things. It shows us more than ever just how much Jesus cared about us, to have put himself through such terrible torment. And being filmed this way, may lead many others to start to believe. Such a shock of how much Jesus went through in his final hours, may make some people realize 'hey, I never thought he did so much for us... who would ever do that for ANYBODY?'

Now, I'm not a religious person, and I'm sure after I see this movie, I probably still won't be. But from both perspectives, I'll say this much. If you ARE religious, I'm sure this movie may make you appreciate what you already understand, even more. People always understood how Jesus suffered and sacrificed himself for us, but never really knew just exactly what it was, he went through. Now we will. And for those of you who ARE NOT religious, this movie Im' sure, as long as you keep an open mind about what the facts from the bible are, and just see how amazing it is for somebody to go through all that torment for all of us, you'll at least appreciate the story of Christ and sacrifice after seeing this film.


And yeah, I know. It's a bit much to assume or say since I haven't seen the movie yet. But it's pretty much self explanatory what this movie is here to do. All these people everywhere that are bitching and complaining should just shut the hell up already. All they're looking for, are things they can complain about. Jesus sacrificed himself, for those who aren't religious, they should at least understand what this movie is really here for. And for those who ARE religious, and complaining about this film, get your head out of your ass. Jesus died for your sins and you want to complain about how this movie is portraying the final hours that Christ was living on earth? Isn't a bit hypocritical to be like 'jesus died for our sins, its the most unselfish thing anybody has ever done', but then turn around and turn your backs on this movie? It's showing you what he really went through and you can't deny the fact. You want to preach what you were told, but you don't want to admit that's how bad it really was? Bah.


Anyways, im done... lol

EDIT: I also think it's pretty ignorant for some of these religious people to say 'Id like to see somebody who see's this movie, to come out a non-believer'. So what, this movie is automatically going to make anybody who doesn't believe, believe after seeing this film? Why's that, just because it's very honest to what really happened, and it's very shocking? I really think that's just stupid."


NOW:

After seeing the film this afternoon, I must say that most of what I've said up above stands true. This movie is exactly what it's supposed to be, the final 12 hours of Christ. I can't actually comment on how 'dead on' this film is compared to the bible, as I've stated that I'm not really a religious person. But the basics of the same story is still here.

I'm not sure just exactly what it is the people who said: "This movie does not focus too much on the spiritualistic aspect of this story". Maybe not spiritualistic, but it's certainly moving, in one way or another. I didn't cry, as most the old women sitting in the theater near me were doing. They made the theater actually smell like Church, you know the smell, old and cheap 'perfume' that only somebody who's lost their sense of smell back in Nam could appreciate. The entire point of this movie, is to be shocking, and make us understand just exactly how great Jesus and his purpose were. He was beaten and tortured to the point where he could hardly comprehend what was going on around him. And even amongst it all, he was still begging for forgiveness.... for his enemies. How somebody could be so unselfish and so loving at a time of complete and utter torture and pain... is beyond me. I didn't cry, as I said, but I was choked up almost to that point once or twice. It was awfully sad, and pretty brutal. But the movie did symbolize the pain Jesus went through, as his love. Everything he went through was for a reason, the 'ultimate' reason, so to speak. The Devil tried to deter Jesus from dying for everybodies sins. He tried to convince Jesus that it was too much of a burden for ANY man to take. I really don't know how much more 'spiritualistic' you could have made this film. The whole aspect behind the religion is to really be good to others, and to have tolerance. And that's the same theme behind the film.

As far as the religious guru's saying that it would be hard to believe, if anybody who saw this movie, didn't start to believe. Well, I'm sorry. It doesn't really sway me. It makes me appreciate the concept and idea behind the story much more, and respect peoples opinions who do believe more, but convert me? Nah, not really. It's nothing we didn't already know. The bottom line is, Jesus was put through a lot of ultimate pain, to die for our sins. Just because Mel Gibson had the balls to through up on the big screen, just how terrible it was, doesn't make me all of a sudden say: "Oh wow! How shocking! It was so shocking, that because Mel Gibson filmed it to be this way, this just MUST have been true!" That aspect just doesn't make sense to me. If the world worked in such a way that anything shocking would make people 'see the light'... think about it ...

There wouldn't be anymore war (Saving Private Ryan - Black Hawk Down)
There wouldn't be anymore racism (American History X)

Point is, it's the same story, no matter how you slice it. If just finally seeing how bad something we already know is, really effects you, then you were pretty ignorant on what really happened to Jesus in the first place. And for some people, that may not be their fault.


As far as the movie itself...

You may think that the idea behind reading english subtitles for Aramaic and Roman are really a pain in the ass, but they aren't. Usually it's small sentences and there's really not much dialogue in the movie at all, compared to any other movie you would see. A lot of the movie is told through what's going on. And the actors really did a great job here.

The direction of the movie, couldn't have made this movie what it was if it was done poorly. Mel Gibson really did an excellent job of not making this movie drag on, considering there wasn't much dialogue going on for a runtime of 2 hours and 6-7 minutes. Mel Gibson really went out on a limb to make this film. He knew the kind of criticism he was going to be facing, and he continued the film anyway. His main star got hit by lightning, and Mel and the actor kept going. It's a project people really put a lot of work into. The way it was directed, really made this film, the 'emotionally impacting' history lesson it was meant to be. I've really liked Mel Gibsons acting for a while, but really didn't even think of it at all during this film. In fact, I really forgot about the fact that Mel Gibson was directing this movie the entire time I saw it. And believe me, I'm the kind of person who will watch something, and recognize somebody elses work, and compare. Best recent example, would be the voice of Timon's mother in 'Lion King 1 1/2'... as she's also the voice of Marge Simpson. I just couldn't get that out of my head every time her character spoke.

Forget all the negative reviews. If somebody wants to turn this movie into a 'Mel Gibson hates the ****ing Jews' kind of film after seeing it, if they have that idea planted in their head before seeing this film... they WILL see it that way during the movie as well. All the negative reviews I've seen are pretty much nothing more than narrow minded babbling.

I give this movie a 7/10. It's neither 'good', nor is it 'bad'. But it's certainly not 'average' either. It's a wonderful movie to see at least once. It's something different, and something shocking... and definitely something that was very bold to try and film. This movie deserves a glance, whether you believe, or not.



:::::I wanted to use this to back up what I said before, so I'm not considered to be bashing anybodies feelings or beliefs, one way or another.

Just? Films are life!

Do not bad films make you suffer? Do good films not elevate your soul?

If you're going to proffer the "just a movie" argument, you've already lost.

Well, maybe so. But why is it, that this forum should have to endure so much hatred and argumentative behavior, just because of a discussion about a movie? I appreciate sarcasm just as much as anybody jough, but in a way, it's not too far off from the truth. People definitely blur the line between 'entertainment' and 'life'. It's kind of sad that people need to be fighting over a MOVIE that's based upon something religious, let alone people fighting AT ALL about religion. We can't expect the endless debate over religion to ever end, but some people protect their idols no matter what in life. You have people who will follow a lead singer of a band, from new band to new band, even if he sucks, just because of who he is. It's a sick obsession to be so 'involved' in something that you can't clearly see the facts in front of your face. This topic is up to six pages long, and a good portion of it is due to people screaming back and forth at each other about who's open minded or not. There are some people that don't believe in any of this stuff, and there are people who live their life by it. But just because 'Jesus' may be in many peoples eyes to be the ultimate icon, doesn't mean that anything branded with his name in it, is top notch quality stuff. And The Passion is a great example of this kind of blind following. The movie wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. There are a good couple of moralistic values to be taught by watching this film, being inflicted on the viewer through very harsh torture. Does use of shock value to get us to feel sympathy and sadness really make a movie good? No. You could make a two hour movie of nothing but things ripping guts out of other things, and that wouldn't make it a good movie just because it would have shock value. If you happen to feel that the movie has genuine things to offer as far as a 'movie' goes, then so be it. I'd love to hear the argument carry on. But stop going back and forth with each other, bitching about who's right in the debate over religion. If you don't believe... you need to realize there are people out there who do. It's the same thing as if somebody were to watch a movie you absolutely LOVED, and say 'well, i didnt care for it'. It's all difference of opinion. And if you DO believe, you need to realize that just because somebody doesn't think your opinion may be logical, you have to realize that there are people out there who don't live their lives based on 'faith'. In order to call them closed minded for not believing what you do, is nothing more than hypcorisy, considering the fact that you're yelling at them for not respecting your own opinion.

Can't we all just.... get along?

All I can say is, I didn't much care for The Passion, yet I thought it was a good, if not great, film.

If nothing else, I think we can all agree that it was a bold undertaking (well, except those who thought that a religious film that's subtitled with dialogue in Latin and Aramaic would automatically be a blockbuster) and that Gibson made a film that was near and dear to his heart, facing great odds to get the film made.

Watch - Michael Bay's next film will be a romantic action comedy with dialogue in Tagalog that takes place during the middle ages. He'll call it "Mud Huts of Fire."

Of course, it will star Nic Cage and Ben Affleck.

Right, so the film's coming out later this year. Good to know.