Ben-Hur (2016) / YMMV

Novel | 1925 Film | 1959 Film

Evil Is Cool: Even if they are the villains of the setting, the scene in which the Roman army enters Jerusalem just oozes badassery.
Memetic Mutation: The film's original Roman marching song became an instant hit for history-related memes, to the point it overshadowed the entire movie on the Internet.
Nightmare Fuel: Judah and the other galley slaves are trapped belowdecks, unable to do anything except row forward and back while their ship rams another, oil from burst barrels pours down, and the drummer catches fire. Then, just as he's able to rally the slaves to get them unstuck from the ship they're on, a Greek ship with a Roman prisoner strapped to its ram smashes into them, tearing the boat in two and filling it with water. The boat being torn in two is even worse because the slaves on Judah's side of the ship are pulled into the water by the chains strapped to their ankles, and Judah is lucky to escape drowning.
Older Than They Think: The animated Ben-Hur: A Race For Glory (1992) had a prologue of a younger Judah and Messala bonding before the latter joins the army, and ends with the two reconciling (although the cartoon had it happen during Palm Sunday).
Signature Scene: The most memorable scene in this version is often cited to be not the Chariot Race, but the Romans entering Jerusalem, singing a Latin marching song which has no equivalent in any previous version. It's based on the modern military cadence "I Hear The Choppers Coming", but the anachronism doesn't make it any less catchy.
O Roma, o Roma... (Oh Rome, oh Rome...)
Legio aeterna, aeterna, victrix. (Legion eternal, eternal, victorious.)
Sit Italica sua vis, nostrum munus patri Marti. (Her strength is Italian, our duty to the father Mars.)
Supra terram Britannorum volat aquila legionum. (Above the land of the Britons flies the eagle of the legions.)
A ferventi aestuosa Libya volat aquila legionum. (From scorching hot Libya flies the eagle of the legions.)
Tainted by the Preview: This version's trailers were compared unfavorably to the 1959 version despite being wildly different to each other. The first trailer emphasized the Epic Movie action like the chariot race and the sea battle, with modern flourishes like shifting into first-person view, but drew criticism for being yet another modernized remake that was a soulless CGI fest. Apparently in response, the second trailer opened with a Bible quote and emphasized the expanded role of Jesus, which also drew criticism as the 1959 movie had kept Jesus as The Faceless for maximum dramatic effect.
Tough Act to Follow: The 1959 film version is such a highly-regarded classic that critics and audiences were generally unenthusiastic at best and vitriolic at worst towards a big-screen movie remake (the cartoon and TV miniseries versions didn't get nearly the same kind of heat, being in different formats).
Unintentionally Unsympathetic: In this version the Hur family get screwed over because Judah shelters a Zealot who then tries to snipe Pilate from the top of their house, instead of an unfortunate accident with a broken roof tile that hits the governor, even if Judah still ends up taking the blame in a bid to spare his family (and causing the tile to fall himself in the novel). Instead of an accident deciding it, Judah could actively have avoided all this misfortune. And still later, the Zealot is the repentant thief crucified with Jesus who promises he will join him in Paradise, even if the audience knows he screwed Judah and the Hur family over in the first place.
WTH, Costuming Department?: Morgan Freeman is hard, hard to take seriously with those big white dreadlocks.

YMMV / Ben-Hur (2016)

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