With a few exceptions, I have been disappointed the last several years with the movies I have seen based upon the Bible. If you saw Noah and/or Exodus: Gods and Kings you know what I mean. If you didn’t see them you were wise not to waste your time or spend your money.

I saw the new film Risen yesterday and I am pleased to report that not only was I not disappointed, I was impressed and enjoyed it. I agree with both Fox News’ reporter Todd Starnes who proclaimed “It’s a miracle! Hollywood finally tells a great Bible story” and Christianity Today’s chief film critic Alissa Wilkinson who reported it “is not quite like any film based on the Bible that I’ve seen before.”

As the title indicates, Risen is about Jesus’ resurrection on Easter Sunday following His Good Friday crucifixion. Others may not agree with me, but I thought the movie was biblical, realistic, inspirational, and touching. It cost me $21.50 for my ticket, diet coke, popcorn, and candy; but the $8.25 for the ticket was worth it as was the time it took to see it. (Note I did not say the diet coke, popcorn, and candy was worth $13.25).

Was the movie perfect? No. No movie made from a book or novel will be perfect. Think about some of the movies you have seen that were made from a novel. I remember years ago reading Jaws and then how surprised I was when I saw the movie. The movie was not like I had imagined it would be based upon reading the novel.

Does Risen add to the Bible’s account? Yes. Is what it adds speculative. Yes. To make a movie from the Bible requires that some speculative addition be made. Risen tells the story of what happened after Jesus rose from the dead through a Roman tribune soldier named Clavius who was Pilate’s right hand man. His assignment is to find the corpse of the crucified Nazarene so they can refute the rumor that He rose from the dead.

Of course there is no Clavius in the Gospel accounts, but Matthew 27:62-64 does tell us the chief priests and the Pharisees were aware that before His death Jesus said He would rise again. Those verses also tell us the religious leaders were afraid Jesus’ disciples would steal His body and tell people He had risen. And Matthew 28:11-15 tells us the chief priests paid the soldiers to lie about what happened. In the movie almost everything Clavius deals with from Jesus’ death to His ascension has some basis in the Gospels. That is why I said above the film is realistic.

In the midst of a lot of biblical material in the movie, there are a few dislocations of sayings in terms of where they appear in the Bible. I can live with that as I was pleased to see so much Bible in the story’s speculation and additions. I don’t know if any Roman soldiers became believers after Jesus’ resurrection and before His ascension. But I do know that when Jesus died some soldiers remarked, “Surely he was the Son of God!” And Acts 10 tells us about a centurion name Cornelius who later became a Christian.

You have to decide for yourself if you want to see this movie. Having seen it I can say it was not totally satisfying, but it was worth seeing.

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