Risen starts Joseph Fiennes as Clavius, a Roman Tribune who is appointed by Pontius Pilate (Peter Firth) is investigating the local rumours that are surfacing about a new Messiah which coincides with the recent disappearance of a body from a tomb of a man called Yeshua (Cliff Curtis) which Clavius’ men were supposed to be guarding. When Clavius is unable to locate the missing body he turns to tracking down the supporters of this alleged Messiah for clues but when he finds the supposed dead man alive and well his faith is tested so he decides that he needs to spend some time with this man to establish what is going on.

It’s a religious tale about the resurrection of Christ so I’m hardly going to be giving any spoilers away in terms of the plot but it’s interestingly told in the form of a detective type tale as Clavius’ investigation lead him closer and closer to the one answer he doesn’t want to hear and Fiennes is excellent as the skeptic who begins to doubt his ideals and his ethos on life as he spends more time around the seemingly resurrected man

Director Kevin Reynolds does a good job of recreating a feel and vibe of the time and there’s some great orchestral scoring by Roque Banos which gives a great nod to the classics of its genre such as Ben Hur and The Robe. A big plus is that the movie stays away from glamorising the events, instead Clavius hears of the tales of miracles from eye witnesses and other locals so it’s not a visual spectacle, which was a nice touch and while it lacks the epic feel of other biblical movies it’s a different take which was at least refreshing. This type of movie is not targeted at my demographic but I will always give credit where it is due and I have to admit that I actually enjoyed the movie give the investigative route it took.

DJ Speaks Rating: 5 Out Of 10