Rating: 
Summary: Mildly interesting. Not controversial at all.
Review:
Not a bad depiction of Christ and the difficulties he dealt with trying to understand his role in life. Defoe isn't very magnetic in his role in this movie, and he gets headaches a lot, during which he's hearing the voice of God. Keitel sounds like he's trying to imitate a NYPD officer instead of a disciple of Christ. The desert photography is incredible.
All the demonstrations and controversy about this back in 88 was somewhat ill-placed. So what if it shows Christ thinking about having sex? Sex is kind of an important part of marriage and fatherhood, which I'm sure Christ thought about more than once. How else could he have known that to think of sin is the same as committing sin?
This flick is a bit of a snoozer, though. Be good and awake before you start it.
-- JJ Timmins
Rating: 
Summary: Another response for watchman-on-the-wall
Review: Just two questions, watchman-on-the-wall:
1. How do you know that "obviously the author didn't check the biblical account" when you admit that you FELL ASLEEP halfway during the movie?
2. If the "spirit of God" did in fact "open your eyes to the scriptures" then why weren't you able to "avoid speculation and old wives' fables likes this movie"? Last temptation of watchman-on-the-wall, perhaps?
Rating: 
Summary: Just plain silly
Review: The only thing I found offensive about this movie was the bad acting and directing. The director got the costumes and dialect for this period all wrong. They made no effort to adjust the way they talk or structure their sentences..The actor's accents are hilarious and embarrassing. I didn't know that Jesus was from California!!!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: "The dual substance of Christ- The yearning, so human, so superhuman, of man to attain God. . . has always been a deep inscrutable mystery to me. My principle anguish and source of all my joys and sorrows from my youth onward has been the incessant, merciless battle between the spirit and the flest. . .and my soul is the arena where these two armies have clashed and met." This quote is from Nikos Kazantzakis' book, and opens the movie. It seems that some Christians are quick to dismiss this movie as wrong because it is not scene for scene from the Gospels. That was the point. The point was to emphasize the HUMAN side of Jesus Christ, to exaggerate it as to relate his struggle in understanding his role as savior with humanities' every day struggles, mainly, the struggle between the spirit and the flesh. Look at Matthew 26:39 where Jesus prays in Gethsemane. I think this is the #1 overlooked passage in the Bible. ". . .he threw himself on the ground and prayed, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me; yet not what I want but what you want." NRSV Jesus didn't want to die on the cross. BUT, his ego died to himself, and he accepted his role. "The Last Temptation of Christ" is all about this, the dying of one's self, the dying of the ego to do what is right. In this case, Jesus' ego. Think about it, the Bible starts in a Garden, that is where ego takes over and man falls away from god. But in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus' ego dies and he is perfect, a man reunited with God. He makes the choice, a choice which will pay for mankinds' sins. It is CRUCIAL to understand that Jesus did not want to die on the cross at first. How could Jesus be perfect if he was incapable of sin? If he was programmed to not sin, what big deal would his life be? The scene in Gethsemane shows that he was capable of ignoring God, but he did not, and that is what made him perfect. The way I see it, "The Last Temptation of Christ" is an extension of the theme in Gethsemane, pointing out how this verse is often ignored.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: Don't Christians realize that this movie sells their religion far more effectively than any other propaganda? Let's leave out the fact that this film is based on a work of fiction and is not intended to support or refute the real faith (a fact which all the fools with signs in front of the movie theater failed to grasp). As an avowed non-Christian, I found this movie to be the first appealing portrayal of Christianity I had ever encountered. For the many thinking people out there who find the Christian dogma too simple, too easy to be for real, the portrayal of a mortal Christ, tormented by doubt, fear and human desire, is easier to relate to and by far more moving than a holy icon who is not tormented. This IS how Satan would come at you: with the lure of the commonplace, the thing you have always been denied. All dogmatic questions aside, this is a beautiful film, stark and simple and yet so identifiable in its lines. Dafoe does a splendid job; his lack of charisma reinforces the idea of an ordinary man, designated for a job he never wanted. Keitel's accent I could've done without, but the man's acting is as impeccable as ever and the other Apostles had the same issues: ordinary men thrust into an extraordinary situation beyond their depth. Peter Gabriel's soundtrack exists in a place beyond praise. I advise anyone to watch this movie with NO preconceptions, to just take it as a work of film, and then enjoy its stunning beauty.
Rating: 
Summary: A powerful film of challenging ideas
Review: Two nights ago I saw a great movie that a friend recommended to me. The Last Temptation of Christ. It's often dismissed as blasphemous, self-important garbage by those people who refuse to see it and are sadly missing the point. This film has some truly awesome cinemetography and an astounding soundtrack which alone make it worth seeing. The reason this film was so controversial is because it is not based on scripture at all but a novel. The movie states it's a fictional exploration of Christ's divinity and humanity from the start. Don't look for accuracy here as there are about a hundred curious biblical innacuracies and ommisions. But these are irrelevant in retrospect of the film's intentions and scope. This movie is not about Jesus' life, but exactly what the title would imply. It is about his struggle and triumph with his own humanity and divinity, his comming to terms with who he was and accepting his destiny. Accurate or not (we know so little about Jesus) it nonetheless very thought-provoking. Where the film dares is its portrayl of the human side of Jesus, showing him as vulnerable, scared, and prone to the same human weaknesses and temptations we are. Willem Dafoe (Green Goblin in SpiderMan)is curiously (mis?)cast as Jesus, and comes across oddly uncertain. The first half of this movie is odd, and as my mom had described it to me (apparently she only saw this part) it felt like I was watching a movie about someone else rather than Jesus. The dialgoue is sometimes (unintentionally?)very funny, and the Judas' role in the film is ludicrous. Despite all of these things, however, the film still held my interest (many think it's boring, but I found it absorbing). The second half of the movie, on the hand, is very powerful and it is this half that's recieved the most attention. While on the cross, Jesus recieves visions about what it would be like to escape his destiny and live the life of an ordinary man and partake of the pleasures thereof. The crucifixion itself is very accurate, brutal, and intense, with many details we don't often see in other Jesus films; he is stark naked instead of loinclothed, the nails are through his wrists instead his palms, he's wearing a cap of thorns instead of a crown, and his legs are swung out to sideways and his feet are nailed together through the sides and not the arches. I'm an ameture artist and I've often thought about drawing a picture of Christ on the cross, even if only to make it as accurate as I could, and this movie depicted his death sentance in exactly the manner I imagined it. I've also thought about how cool it would be to make a film about Christ depicted (visually) as accurately as possible that also takes a differnt angle that hasn't been shown before. This movie was the sort of film I had in mind. Further, by depicting Jesus as human with doubts instead of some iconoclastic christ, we are drawn to empathize with him and understand the magnitude of his sacrifice and victory. That's what this film was about. I thought it was very moving, and I would highly recomend it to anyone, religious or not, who has teh slightest interest in the Christian story. I can also see this influence this film must have had on Blind Guardian's various songs about Jesus...
Rating:
Summary: Bible-thumpers and liberal defenders alike...
Review: ...15 years later, you're all still missing the point.
Rating:
Summary: this is a response for the watchman on the wall reviewer
Review: watchman, go do your bible thumping somewhere else!
Rating: 
Summary: Uninspiring!
Review: Dafoe and Keitel together add up to nothing in this film about Jesus Christ, and any semblance to the real thing is mere speculation. When movie critic Michael Medved went to view this film, he said he was geared up for something astounding, as the promotionals built this movie up to something great, but half way through the movie, he and the other critics in the audience laughed and laughed. In fact, I fell asleep half way through this film. If you want to see it, though, I'd recommend you watch it with a Bible in hand.
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: First of all, to the many Christian who hate this film
because it doesn't tote the Orthodox 'right-thinking' dogma
of various christian cults - the movie is based on the book by
Nikos Kazantzakis. If you want to debate the religious aspects
of the movie, and I know this may give right-wing christians
a severe headache, try actually reading, READING, the book by
Nikos Kazantzakis, also sold by Amazon.(Sorry there isn't a comic book version out).
As for a movie adaption of Nikos Kazantzakis's book, this movie
is superb. If it weren't, would folks like some from that hotbed of intellectualism, Texas, still be so emotionally
hysterical about the film, dismissing it because he found the
religious interpretation offensive? This movie is fourteen year
old, folks, and it still forces right-wing christians to nit-pick and find fault with irrelevancies in the movie, even when they are unaware that it is based on a book of the same name.
Sorcese is faithful to the book, the cinematography is wonderful
and the acting superb.
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