First off, for those that have no intention of seeing this and have already made up your minds: bully for you. We get the point, now go away and be miserable somewhere else.<br><br>For those of you who are interested in seeing the movie...<br><hr><br>What else can I say but wow! Very, very, very powerful. Very moving and very brutal. The movie begins abruptly with no previews. I was kind of taken aback by that, but then again, no big studio would distribute this film... so they get no advertisements.<br><br>The film featured superb cinematography and acting. I like that the dialog wasn't in English. Though, if he wanted to go all the way, I wish Mel would've avoided the stereotypical look of Christ and the props. The music was competent... it seems Peter Gabriel set the bar for what Christ scores should be with his Passion soundtrack.<br><br>As for the violence. Ouch, you get lots of it. There's a scene in which Jesus is flayed with a multi-tipped whip with sharp pieces of metal at the ends. Now, I'm a horror and special effects nut, but even this scene had me wincing. They show the sharp edges ripping away at his flesh.<br><br>Throughout the movie, a creepy, androgynous devil keeps hovering around Jesus. I jumped a few times when faces would turn into demons. There are some definitely frightening moments.<br><br>Unfortunately, there was one scene I didn't like. During the telling of the story, we're treated to flashbacks of things that are related to the events that are unfolding in the main timeline. One of those is Jesus as a carpenter making a table. It's sort of suggested that Jesus invented the bar stool. Uh, yeah. I also could've done with less slow-motion shots of Jesus falling to the ground. There were about six too many.<br><br>Basically, this movie is 2 hours depicting the brutality of Christ's death, and little else. Through flashbacks, we get a glimpse of life beyond this final day. We were glued to our seats for two hours. For an 11:30am showing, the place was packed. But after 120 minutes, you may feel a bit drained. When the credits rolled, the audience just sat there, sort of stunned. And let me tell you, there wasn't a dry eye in the place for the last 1/2 of the movie. Tip: bring Kleenex.<br><br>If you're Christian, regardless of denomination, I think you'll enjoy the film. Also, the movie assumes you already know the story of Jesus. It doesn't tell you who he is or where he came from or how he got where he is in the film. Just remember, it does get brutal. I wouldn't recommend taking children under, say, 15. If you think the whole idea is proposterous... uh, why are you still reading? I told you to go away. GO AWAY!<br><br>And if you're geeky like me, you'll notice the subtitle font is Optima. If they would've used Arial.... <br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Sam on 02/25/04 02:21 PM (server time).</EM></FONT></P>

<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>Now, I'm a horror and special effects nut, but even this scene had me wincing.<p><hr></blockquote><p><br>If only for that, I'm already scared. Sounds good Sam. Even without your review, this movie is on my list.<br><br>

I will likely rent it on DVD when the time comes, but i watched part of the making of Passion last night on PAX or something...the jesus character was a little odd...i couldn't tell if he was claiming to have had a real super natural experience or if he was claiming that he actually got struck by lightening when he was up on the cross...it was just odd and perhaps that's what i get for only watching part. anyway, they showed how they nailed the spikes into his hand...the palm was the only part of you saw that was fake (obviously it had to be). the arm was the actor's and he bent it into a hole right as it met the wrist. the fingers were another actor's fingers sticking up and the thumb was mechanical (okay, so it was fake as well). they then took the camera shot from the end of the hand to remove the issues related to things not being quite proportional. looked pretty real in the final shots. gibson had a quote where he talked about how amazed he was with the special effects because you couldn't even tell they were special effects. while the story doesn't interest me, it does sound like an cinematographic event worth viewing. <br><br>EDIT: i am not skipping passion at the theaters to make a point or anything. i just don't go to the theaters. <br><br><P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by sean on 02/25/04 03:03 PM (server time).</EM></FONT></P>

I'll watch it, I've been hearing more and more positive reviews about it.<br><br><br>I saw a great Jesus Christ Superstar production last night! Wow, its gonna be hard to top that! <br>

So, was it anti-Semitic or not? <br><br>

i think i read that the line(s) in question was removed that said something about the blood of jesus being on the jews. and, i think it was focus groups that caused gibson to make the edit...all that effort to get details correct and then he succumbed to focus groups. <br><br>here it is:<blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>The New York Times reports that in response to recent focus group results about his Christ movie, and probably in part due to protests by Jewish critics, Mel Gibson has decided to delete a controversial scene about Jews from his film "The Passion of the Christ". <br><br>A scene in the film in which the Jewish high priest Caiaphas seemingly places a curse on the Jewish people by declaring of the Crucifixion"His blood be on us and on our children" will not appear in the movie's final version said an anonymous associate of Gibson.<p><hr></blockquote><p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/04/movies/04PASS.html?hp">ny times article</a><br><br><br>

Sounds too Catholic, Sam <br><br>

I'll probably see this...thanks for the review. <br><br>Hey JohnR:<br><br><blockquote><font size=1>In reply to:</font><hr><p>Throughout the movie, a creepy, ANDGROGYNOUS devil keeps hovering around Jesus<p><hr></blockquote><p>In a Mel Gibson film??? The antagonist portrayed as effeminate or gay???<br><br>Uhhh...Told Ya So.<br><br>===================<br><br>S3V3N<br>Washington, DC USA

Are you talking about Gibson's directorial films or just the films he was in?<br><br>I don't remember any of the townspeople in 'Man Without a Face' as having a homoerotic edge to them...do you? <br><br>

Yeah, and those aliens in Signs were so flaming. <br><br>