Film

Risen

Name: Risen
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, History, Mystery
Released: 2016
Cast: Joseph Fiennes, Peter Firth, Cliff Curtis, Tom Felton, Mark Killeen

Mystery

A Roman tribune investigates the empty tomb after the crucifixion, chasing down witnesses and gathering evidence. It's a mystery thriller dressed in sandals—less theology than detective work, played straight and tense. For viewers who want the Resurrection story told as a secular puzzle rather than a faith statement, or who simply enjoy competent historical intrigue with genuine stakes.

TMDb rating

3.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like a skeptical investigator's hunt for answers, where a sceptic's detective work and grubby Roman politics carry the story more than the miracle itself.

Skip it if you want reverent devotion or a faithful retelling of the Gospels; this treats the resurrection as a puzzle, and the sincerity of its faith will feel thin to some viewers.

What it asks of you: It runs about an hour and three-quarters, moves at the clip of a procedural, and asks you to follow clues and rival suspicions rather than sit back for spectacle.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Robe1953

A Roman officer's life transforms after witnessing the crucifixion and handling Christ's garment. Epic, sincere, visually sumptuous—the ancestor of every biblical epic that followed, and it earned its place.

But It's three and a half hours of 1950s Technicolor melodrama with a faith conversion at its heart. The pacing is glacial by modern standards, and the emotional register is very high.

Quo Vadis1951

A Roman general falls for a Christian slave during Nero's persecution. Enormous production, magnificent sets, real historical texture, and the conflict between duty and belief feels earned rather than imposed.

But Another three-hour epic with dated special effects and an ending you can see from orbit. The dialogue can be purple, and some supporting performances are pantomime.

The Last Temptation of Christ1988

Scorsese and Dafoe make Jesus a man wrestling with doubt and desire. Morally complex, visually stunning, genuinely moving. A masterwork that asks questions rather than answering them.

But It's deliberately provocative and profoundly unglamorous about its subject. Some will find it blasphemous, others slow. It won't comfort you.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Risen

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Name of the Rose1986

Both use religious mysteries as detective stories; both care more about investigation than revelation, and both treat the Resurrection or its equivalent as a puzzle to be solved rather than a truth to be accepted.

A Franciscan monk investigates murders in a medieval monastery. It's a mystery thriller like Risen, but located in ideas rather than evidence—a locked-room murder where the room is built from theology and history. Gorgeous, cerebral, and unexpectedly gripping.

But Sean Connery's Italian accent is bewildering, and the film disappears into its own intellectual machinery for long stretches. If you want clarity and momentum, you won't get it.

Ben-Hur1959

A man seeks revenge against the Roman officer who destroyed his life, but faith intervenes. The chariot race is legendary, yes—but the quieter scenes examining faith and forgiveness are what linger.

But At over three and a half hours, it luxuriates in its own scale. The middle section drags, and the conversion feels inevitable rather than earned.

The Message1976

A respectfully ambitious film about the founding of Islam that avoids depicting the Prophet. It's a genuine attempt at historical sweep and cultural sincerity without Hollywood shorthand.

But It's reverent to the point of stiffness, and the narrative unfolds like a checklist. Some sequences are dull, and the filmmaking is workmanlike rather than inspired.

A.D. The Bible Continues2015

Picks up where The Passion ends, following the disciples in Jerusalem as they grapple with what's happened. Well-cast, well-paced, and genuinely interested in the human chaos of belief taking root.

But It's television-broad at times, and some episodes lean toward soap opera. The tone wavers between intimate and overwrought.

Masada1981

A Jewish fortress holds out against Roman siege. Peter O'Toole is magnificent, the historical detail is meticulous, and it's a story about resistance and principle with real teeth.

But It's slow-burn and tragic—there's no redemptive arc, just principled people facing annihilation. Some will find it punishing rather than ennobling.

The First Temptation of Christ2019

A Brazilian comedy special that imagines Jesus bringing a boyfriend home to meet his family on his 30th birthday. Irreverent, warm, genuinely funny, and smarter than its premise suggests.

But It's deliberately blasphemous and sexually frank. If you're religious and uneasy with humor about faith, this will feel like a prank at your expense.

Pontius Pilate1962

A Polish film about a man trying to do right within an impossible system. Philosophically serious, beautifully shot, and interested in bureaucratic evil and personal conscience.

But It's arthouse and deliberate—long takes, minimal dialogue, no catharsis. It feels like watching a man slowly realize his powerlessness, which it is.

Chikamatsu Monogatari1954

Both films are set in occupied territories where imperial law collides with local belief; both center on an execution that spawns mythology; both are interested in how power manufactures truth.

A Japanese masterpiece about an adulterous man and woman executed by a feudal lord. It's visually perfect—compositions of tragic weight—and it asks how justice and law relate when both are unjust. Utterly moving and nothing like you'd expect.

But It's a slow, formal Mizoguchi film in black and white, and it's a tragedy without mercy. You watch two good people die for nothing, and the film finds beauty in their helplessness. That's hard.