‘Risen’ is told by a skeptic

By LINDSEY BAHR

AP Film Writer

Modern faith-based films don’t have a stellar track record when it comes to quality. That’s why “Risen” is such an interesting and even promising departure. It looks and feels like a film that just happens to fit into the faith-based genre instead of a faith-based infomercial that sort of resembles a film – at least at first.

That’s all credit to writer/director Kevin Reynolds, whose past films include “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” “Waterworld” and “The Count of Monte Cristo.” With “Risen,” Reynolds has endeavored to make a more classical biblical epic told in an original way – as a bureaucratic investigation into the resurrection.

Joseph Fiennes’ Clavius anchors the story – an ambitious, unsentimental Roman soldier who is helping Pontius Pilate (a funny, exasperated Peter Firth) deal with his Nazarene problem.

Clavius speeds up the crucifixion by ordering the body punctured, which seems to be the end of it, but of course all goes to hell when Jesus’s dead body goes missing from the tomb, and Clavius is on the hook for tracking it down. The stakes are no less than Clavius’s future and Pilate’s control.

The film progresses from there much like a police procedural. And it all works fairly well.

Fiennes does a nice job of keeping things grounded, but everything changes when Clavius sees Jesus alive and well. He’s not an immediate convert, but this begins his transition from hard-boiled cynic to weepy believer. It’s in this third act that “Risen” becomes more cheesy Sunday School commercial than film.

The inevitability of Clavius’s transition is perhaps to blame. He stops questioning things and the swift and complete transformation simply doesn’t ring true for the character.

“Risen” is rated PG-13 for “biblical violence including some disturbing images.” Running time: 1:48. Grade: C+.