Blu-ray Review: The Agony and The Ecstasy

Blu-ray Reviews, Reviews

Charlton Heston as an actor was known for a lot of things, but his biggest roles were always as the man who personified screen presence. You couldn’t help but notice Heston in whatever he did because he is the standard by which we judge an actor’s screen presence. No matter what role he took it felt bigger because he was in it. We could buy him as a painter of the Renaissance because he had this huge presence to him; on screen Heston was playing various characters as the Charlton Heston persona, of course, but it was such a powerful one we dared not believe him.

In The Agony and the Ecstasy Heston plays Michelangelo as he’s charged to paint what would become one of his most well known pieces: the Sistine Chapel. The film, based off a biography of the same name (written by Irving Stone), follows the sculptor through both his creative process in designing the chapel and the controversy with the Pope (Rex Harrison) that his painting would create.

This isn’t an essential Heston film … but it’s an interesting one. Heston is usually a man of action, not a man of art, and as such it’s a different look at the sort of character Heston plays. Heston’s good in the part, of course, but this isn’t his best or his most iconic work. It’s in that second tier, that very good but not quite brilliant … good enough to make a highlight reel but not as a signature moment.

The film itself is fairly pedestrian as well. This is a film that’s mainly hindered by its script, which is clunky and not nearly as cinematic as it could be.

No extras are included.

20th Century Fox presents The Agony and the Ecstasy. Directed by Carol Reed. Written by Phillip Dunne based off the novel of the same name by Irving Stone. Starring Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, Diane Cilento, Harry Andrews, Alberto Lupo. Running time: 138 minutes. Not Rated. Released: March 4, 2014.