A reviewer for The New Yorker once described the 1959 epic Academy Awards-slayer Ben Hur as a "four-hour Sunday school lesson". In this age of shorter attention spans, a four-hour remake of William Wyler's film would be ill-advised.Adaptations of Lew Wallace's 19th century bestseller, subtitled "a tale of the Christ", have battled with how to make the story of Jesus as interesting as that of the struggles of its other protagonist, Judah Ben Hur. Chariot races are far more thrilling than the Sermon on the Mount ...What those involved in this remake were thinking is beyond me. Directed by Timur Bekmambetov, this is a messy, badly edited and terribly acted version of the story that should never have seen the light of day.It begins strangely, with Judah (Jack Huston) facing off against his once best friend, now mortal enemy, adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell) in the chariot race. The film then abruptly cuts back to the brothers' more halcyon days as sons of a rich Jerusalem family.The 1959 film's falling roof slate attack on Pontius Pilate (Pilou Asbæk) is replaced by the arrow of a Zealot assassin. And then, of course, poor Judah is headed for the galleys of a warship before been rescued and tutored by everyone's favourite wise old black man, Morgan Freeman - who sports a ridiculous dreadlocked wig in the role of chariot-racing backer Ilderim.By the time we get back to what everyone knows is the main reason for making adaptations of the book - the chariot race - the wooden acting, sentimental music, clunky dialogue and awful religious propaganda only serve to spoil whatever merits the staging of the race may have.There is very little dramatic tension or narrative drive and the whole enterprise is more lifeless than an exhausted nag after a day at the races.In an age when faith-based films are making a comeback, this film has no faith in its story, no idea about how to incorporate its religious messaging into its narrative, and no real reason to justify its existence.Even the chariot race lacks the brutality and bloody-mindedness that served the rebooted sword-and-sandal epics, Gladiator and HBO's Rome, so well.It's all very safe and dull and instantly forgettable, and proof that some classics of the Hollywood golden age should be left alone. Even a two-hour Sunday school lesson is more interesting than this last and most terrible of the season's blockbusters.WHAT OTHERS SAYLIKE "The Life Of Brian" without the jokes. - Geoffrey Macnab, IndependentTHUDDINGLY dull-witted remake of a biblical epic that wasn't exactly subtle to begin with. - Wendy Ide, ObserverA DIGITALISED eyesore hobbled in every department by staggering incompetence. - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone..