Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, May 15, 1993                   TAG: 9305150248
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

ONCE AGAIN, FILM FAILS TO CAPTURE STORY OF JESUS

The premise is intriguing enough: What if Jesus hadn't lived 2,000 years ago, but were conducting his ministry today?

Unfortunately, this plodding, cliched attempt just can't pull it off.

Every movie can be viewed from several perspectives. On a purely technical level, this one might receive generally passing grades. It is in focus. There are pretty shots of the Georgia seashore. And there are some visual special effects that are pulled off convincingly enough.

But even the special effects fall into the cliche category - sort of Cecil B. DeMille and Steven Spielberg, combining roiling clouds and lightning that chases bad guys all over the place and really bright light.

The more serious problems with this movie, however, have to do with a poorly constructed story and some scrambled - if well-intentioned - Christian theology.

As has been the case throughout cinema history, the filmmaker can't quite figure out how to handle the character of Jesus Christ - who is called Jesse is this movie.

After watching a movie like "The Judas Project" - or "Jesus Christ Superstar" or "The Last Temptation of Christ" - you have to wonder why anybody would have been drawn to such a sappy, non-charismatic guy as the Jesus those films portray.

His religious message is reduced to modern-language platitudes delivered by a guy with absolutely no personality.

At one point in the movie, Jesus - uh, Jesse - is said to have "half the world" following him. Yet he never even gets 12 "apostles" - only four guys who seem to be with him fishing and camping out in the woods. He does occasionally draw a crowd on the beach where he heals a few people and a couple of loaves of bread and a hunk of cheese miraculously stretch out to satisfy maybe 30 or 40 people. No fish. No 5,000.

And the character of Peter, a burly Grizzly Adams guy in a flannel shirt, jeans and suspenders - appears to have no left hand. One is left wondering why the Jesus who healed strangers on the beach wouldn't have restored the hand of the "rock on whom I will build my church."

By the way, there are no significant female characters. There is a prostitute (could it be Mary Magdalene?) who is on screen for about one minute and has no lines.

Director (and writer and songwriter and who-knows-what-else) James H. Barden leaves the audience hanging by refusing to provide any political or historical background for the story. How would the modern world have been different if there had been no Christianity for the last 2,000 years?

In the end, an unconvincing sermon.

\ The Judas Project:*(for effort) An RS Entertainment Release playing at Valley View Mall 6 and Salem Valley 8. Rated PG-13 for graphic depictions of Jesus' crucifixion. 100 minutes.