Watch: The second trailer for Risen, starring Joseph Fiennes and Tom Felton as Roman soldiers and Cliff Curtis as Jesus

Watch: The second trailer for Risen, starring Joseph Fiennes and Tom Felton as Roman soldiers and Cliff Curtis as Jesus August 28, 2015

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Four months ago, we got our first good look at Risen (formerly known as Clavius), the film that stars Joseph Fiennes and Tom Felton as a couple of Roman soldiers who investigate the disappearance of Jesus’ body. Now, today, with the film’s January 22 release less than five months away, we have a second, even longer, trailer, which consists almost entirely of new footage. Check it out below the jump.

Here is the trailer itself:

Curiously, while the first trailer gave us a couple of very good looks at the face of Jesus — during the Crucifixion and, apparently, after the Resurrection — this new trailer keeps it hidden or obscured. The closest we get to seeing his face is when Clavius (the soldier played by Fiennes) takes a close look at Jesus’ burial shroud:

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We do hear Jesus’ voice at the end, though, when Jesus asks Clavius, “What frightens you?” and Clavius replies, “Being wrong. Wagering eternity on it.”

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The trailer also gives us better looks at characters like Pontius Pilate (Peter Firth)…

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…and Caiaphas (Stephen Greif)…

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…and Joseph of Arimathea (Antonio Gil)…

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…and Mary Magdalene (Maria Botto):

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We also get glimpses of certain episodes from the gospels, such as an earthquake (the one when Jesus is crucified, or the one when he is raised from the dead?)…

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…Jesus’ appearance on the shore while the disciples are in a boat…

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…and what looks like the disciples shielding their eyes during the Ascension (and note how Clavius himself is standing on the far left of the screen in this scene):

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Curiously, this film’s Crucifixion does not seem to be taking place on a hill:

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The trailer also indicates that this film will have a few things in common with A.D. The Bible Continues — things that don’t often come up in Jesus films.

First, of course, there is the fact that Pilate orders his soldiers to find Jesus’ body. Most films — even films set after the Resurrection such as A.D. Anno Domini — don’t bother to show how the Romans would have responded to the disappearance of Jesus’ corpse (though there have been a few, such as The Inquiry and its remake, that do show Roman officers investigating the Resurrection some time after the fact).

Second, the trailer indicates that the Roman emperor Tiberius is on his way to visit Jerusalem (Pilate says the body of Jesus must be found because “the Emperor cannot arrive to unrest”), which was a major plot thread in A.D. The Bible Continues but is extremely unlikely historically. (The historical Tiberius lived on the Isle of Capri and could barely be bothered to visit Italy, much less the fringes of his empire.)

Third, the trailer suggests that Clavius will oversee the death of Jesus and then end up joining his followers, a la Cornelius’s character arc on A.D. The Bible Continues.

Telling the story of the Resurrection from the perspective of a non-believer is certainly an interesting idea. Time will tell how successfully this film develops that premise.


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