Review: 'Risen' tells resurrection tale through a skeptic

[...] they seem to both serve their intended audience and make money along the way, and, because of that, are given an implicit pass to exist somewhere outside of the expectations placed on traditional films.

Clavius speeds up with crucifixion by ordering the body punctured, which seems to be the end of it, but of course all goes to hell when Jesus's dead body (they refer to him here as either the Nazarene or Yeshua) goes missing from the tomb, and Clavius is on the hook for tracking it down.

With a skeptical eye and a green right-hand apprentice to teach ("Harry Potter's" Tom Felton), Clavius rounds up suspects and interested parties to try to find out what happened to the body — the feckless soldiers who were guarding the tomb, an elderly blind lady, Mary Magdalene (Spanish actress Maria Botto), and a hippie dope.

Reynolds has not phoned this effort in and avoids the preachy clichés that so many modern faith-based efforts take as canon.

Besides keeping a sense of humor about itself, "Risen" looks good too.

Risen," a Columbia Pictures release, is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association of America for "biblical violence including some disturbing images.