Stories About Jesus, Ranked

by Joal Ryan, for Metacritic – November 18, 2016

Cinema has been telling the story of Jesus since the 19th century. Spurred in part by the blockbuster success of The Passion of the Christ, the tradition is as strong as ever.

Here's a look at present-day films and TV features, released from 2000 to today, that have featured Jesus as a character. Using Metacritic data, we've ranked them from least to most critically acclaimed.

2 of 14 photo by Paramount Pictures

38 Ben-Hur

This 2016 epic marked the sixth time the Lew Wallace novel, Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ, had been adapted for the screen. Despite an "awesome," CGI-free chariot race, featuring Jack Huston, the $100 million movie bombed.

“[A] by and large dull and lethargic piece of work that is not bad enough to get mad at. What it lacks most of all is a convincing reason to exist.” —Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

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