Judas

Scatterbrained, ill conceived, and dare I say it, blasphemous. What parts of scripture they added to the movie were either misinterpreted, misplaced, or dictated in a corny, lifeless manner. Then, as if it weren't bad enough to simply take scripture and do with it what you want... they decided to ADD scenes to the Word. Scenes such as Pilate and his wife making out while Flavius looked on, or Judas confronting Jesus about Jesus' soon to come death - where Judas used the expression "What the Hell" -- An expression -I've- never read in the gospels. As well, other colorful phrases were thrown in - perhaps an attempt to modernize the film??? And the additional scenes of Judas, lamenting over his decision to betray Christ... where he tries to convince the apostles to rescue Jesus... or where he screams in horror as the crowd calls to crucify Him. Funny how the scriptures say Judas hanged himself long before these events happened. All the while leaving out chief events - such as the anointing by the woman of ill repute.

As for the acting (or lack there of) -- You had Jesus, who was portrayed as a wimp, played by a soft-spoken, blond haired-blue eyed "actor" who would do better in commercials then in any movie. Judas was a mismatch of personalities - all poorly played - and for a while I got the impression they were -actually- trying to make him LIKEABLE! The betrayer of Christ... likeable... What were they thinking? The apostles were all over the place, and nothing like the bible describes them. And would someone -please- explain why in all of these "Jesus" movies, the Mary's and Martha's all seem to have British accents?? Where in the scriptures does it say they "hailed from Jolly ol' London"? And while they're sipping tea and eating crumpets none of the other characters have any accents, what so ever... interesting. And while we're explaining things... what was the deal with Jesus and Judas "wrestling" on the garden path and discussing becoming bandits?? What?? Where did - that - come from?

The movie generalized, stereotyped, blasphemed and over all invented areas of scripture, most of which had nothing to do with Judas himself.

Badly acted, badly produced, poorly cast and over all poor quality... simple as that.

If I were to give this movie a letter grade... it would probably be somewhere around the O's or Q's...

This well-written film by Tom Fontana uses colloquial English to weave together the theme of power against the humble. Judas vs. Jesus. It is difficult to imagine how the disciples went out two-by-two, but it all seems reasonable in the humorous, but inspiring story of Judas and James bringing a lady back to life. The music underscores the power of God in scenes like the call of Matthew when Jesus pays a poor man's taxes and asks Matthew to follow Him.

The film explains why Judas originally took the money by giving Judas a mother who needed a funeral. It was clever signal to Judas when Jesus says, "Did you come with swords to capture me, as though I were a common thief?" Many things are explained by the expanded role of Pilate's wife and Flavius. For example, Claudia knew about the custom of releasing a prisoner for the Passover and because Flavius was under arrest, Judas had to identify Jesus.

How can a person get a video of JUDAS? I hope it will be shown next Easter and with more advertising than last March.

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."

The reason I ask if Jesus owned his own surf board is because he looked like he was born and raised in Malibu. While Judas has its moments,the other 85 minutes of the movie is utter garbage. In the shadow of The Passion, the networks only real motive to show this movie was for profit. Judas has moments of stunning visual achievement (although not historically accurate) and interesting dialogue (questionable) between Pilate and Jesus. Still, I found myself laughing at most of the stuff Jesus says and does. In defense of the Actors in this crap of a movie, it's hard to do anything good if the script is bad. The best-worst line in the entire movie is when after Jesus tells Judas that he wants to take him to paradise with his Father, Jesus says to Judas: "What do you say?" Forgetting proper English along with any traces of biblical authenticity, that line defines the mess this movie is. To anyone wanting to be screen writers or filmmakers, if you want to make a serious movie, use serious dialogue. If not, make a movie like Judas.