The Last Temptation of Christ

Data
Title: The Last Temptation of Christ
Year: 1988
Length: 164 minutes
Director: Martin Scorsese
Writer: Paul Schrader, based on the novel by Nikos Kazantzakis
Starring: Willem Dafoe, Harvey Keitel, Barbara Hershey
Music: Peter Gabriel
Distinctions: Oscar nomination for Best Director

My reaction
Synopsis: Jesus wants God to leave him alone
How I saw it: on video a couple times (have on DVD), most recently yesterday
Concept: Great.
Story: Great. It’s only the foundation of most of Western culture – no big deal, whatever.
Characters: Great.
Dialog: Great.
Pacing: Bad.
Cinematography: Indifferent.
Special effects/design: Good.
Acting: Great.
Music: Bad. There’s some great music in the soundtrack, but a handful of Very Eighties moments make me wince.
Subjective Rating: 9/10 (One of my favorites). I don’t know why I’m so fascinated by this sort of thing. Incidentally, I’m an atheist, and (even though God is unquestionably real in the world of this movie) I see this as having an atheistic perspective. I expect a devout Christian, if they could get past the heaping blasphemy, would see it as just the opposite.
Objective Rating: 3.1/4 (Very good).