Ever since the massive artistic achievement of “The Passion of the Christ,” every film about Jesus, before or since, has been compared to it. And, the recent “Son of God” is no different. But, the comparison is somewhat unfair. In reality, “Son of God” actually descended from the Biblical Spectacles of the 1950s and 60s that includes: “The Bible,” “King of Kings,” and “The Greatest Story Every Told” - all of which favored breadth over depth in their retelling of Scriptural events. This is very different from what became the genius of “The Passion:” which took a small, but significant, section from the life of Christ and focused upon revealing rich details and subtleties that the other films could not cover; my favorite scene in “The Passion” is a very poignant and touching moment where we see the Blessed Mother and Mary Magdalene sopping up the blood of Jesus with huge cloths provided by the remorseful wife of Pontius Pilate. Because “Son of God” and the other Spectacle films attempted to portray the totality of Christ’s existence, there simply is not enough screen time to step back and create art of a very high caliber. Although, at certain instances, “Son of God” comes very close, such as: when the camera simply focuses on Christ breathing; when Christ kisses the face of the dead Lazarus; or when He looks up and sees His Mother in the Temple. Yet, sadly, again, because of time constraints, when the shots should have lingered, and fleshed-out these scenes of beauty, they too quickly move on. Still, the film is a great achievement. It could have easily lapsed into caricature and become a compilation or collection of Jesus’ greatest hits; only it dared to remain a rather quiet and reverential study. Nevertheless, like its predecessors, it’s a big and ambitious movie; it takes risks in an age when every other motion picture relies solely on the box-office dependability of big stars, computer graphics, violence, sex, and merchandising tie-ins. The cinematography is superb, the actors excellent, of particular note - Darwin Shaw as St. Peter, and the direction outstanding. God bless the filmmakers and everyone involved.