Ben-Hur Trailer (2016)

Trailer for Ben-Hur, the remake starring Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell and Morgan Freeman.

Ben-Hur is the epic story of Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston), a prince falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell), an officer in the Roman army. Stripped of his title, separated from his family and the woman he loves (Nazanin Boniadi), Judah is forced into slavery. After years at sea, Judah returns to his homeland to seek revenge, but finds redemption. Based on Lew Wallace’s timeless novel, "Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ."

Though Jack Huston is playing the title character in Ben-Hur, the role was originally offered to High-Rise's Tom Hiddleston. Hiddleston wasn't against the part, but decided that he'd prefer to do Kong: Skull Island. And he wasn't the only one to pass on a role. Gal Gadot, who we will soon see as Wonder Woman in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, also declined a role that was offered to her.

While an August release is at times a bad sign for a film, Ben-Hur was original supposed to be released in February, 2016, but Paramount pushed it back to August 12th in October, 2015. Let's hope that the move was only to finish post-production and not out of fear that the remake isn't up to snuff when compared to other summer tentpoles.

Considering that I'm one of those who considering themselves "anti-remake", especially when the original was just fine, I do admit that I like the look of Boardwalk Empire's Jack Huston as Ben-Hur; and he has to like the feeling of a character with a whole face (you'd have to have seen the show to understand).

The Ben-Hur trailer starts with a 300-sequel type look, but then slowly folds into a more Gladiator feel. Like my comparisons? With sword and sandles, it's easy. But I digress...

Ben-Hur feels very Gladiator-esque as a matter of fact -- with a dash of Exodus -- and that's not exactly a complaint. Not only am I huge fan of Jack Huston, but I've been a huge fan of Toby Kebbell ever since RocknRolla. While I prefer Kebbell being the witty sidekick character, he seems to be entirely comfortable with the roll of villain and perhaps the script allows the character some range to at least be half-likeable.

The only thing that is scary at the moment is the film's theatrical release being in August. Has Paramount given up on the film, or do they think it is a solid enough epic to stand up against Warner Bros' Suicide Squad, which will be into its second weekend. Should be interesting!

In terms of the visuals, the  look great, and don't look too CG-heavy save for the opening ocean sequence. Knowing Paramount, expect at least a few more trailers before Ben-Hur hits theaters.