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.

9 of 14 photo by THINKFilm

52 The Visual Bible: The Gospel of John

This 2003 film, like its predecessors in the Visual Bible series, is a by-the-book retelling of the Good News Bible. Lost's Henry Ian Cusick starred as Jesus, but the film's biggest name was the unseen Christopher Plummer, who narrated.

“This is an ideal straight-ahead version of Jesus's story.” —Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader.

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