The Passion of the Christ (2004)

The review calls this film perhaps the most powerful — and violent — depiction of Christ’s final hours ever committed to film, praising its love and single-minded passion as unmistakable throughout. The reviewer notes that Gibson uses the film’s flashbacks skillfully to connect Christ’s suffering to his humanity and ministry, and characterizes the film as a “fish or cut bait” experience that challenges complacent believers to reckon freshly with the cross. However, Plugged In cautions strongly that the graphic violence and gore make it completely unsuitable for children, and recommends that no family undertake its viewing without spiritual and emotional preparation.

The Canadian Reformed blogger and theologian offered one of the most pointed Protestant critiques of the film on release, arguing that while it succeeds on the macro level — covering the events of the Passion faithfully in outline — it fails at the micro level because its extra-biblical material, drawn heavily from Anne Catherine Emmerich’s mystical visions, blurs the boundary between Scripture and Catholic tradition. Challies concluded that the film is “firmly opposed to Biblical Protestantism” at the level of detail, and expressed concern that Protestant churchgoers were treating it as essentially equivalent to the Gospels themselves. (Read Full Review)

A theological review essay in Themelios engaged the film through the lens of Luther’s theology of the cross, acknowledging that Gibson’s refusal to soften the Passion’s brutality carries real value — it refuses to domesticate the cross through popular piety. However, the reviewers noted that the film’s interpretation draws more heavily from Anne Catherine Emmerich’s visions than it acknowledges, and that Gibson’s resistance to scholarly engagement with the Gospels ultimately narrows what the film can say about why the suffering matters. (Read Full Review)

Multiple reviewers praised the film as one of the most marvelous works of cinema in the Christian genre, commending its inventive use of ancient languages, the acting, and its power to deepen appreciation for Christ’s sacrifice. Several reviewers noted the film does not provide a complete presentation of the Gospel — particularly the resurrection and its meaning — but recommended it strongly for adult viewers of appropriate maturity and stamina. (Read Full Review)

Reviewer Nell Minow called the film “extremely violent, and powerful; for mature teens,” while noting that its subject matter is treated with reverence and that the film’s depiction of Christ’s suffering, however graphic, is never gratuitous in intent. (Read Full Review)

The Passion of the Christ holds a 49% Tomatometer score based on 277 critical reviews, with an 81% Audience Score. The critical consensus reads: “Director Mel Gibson’s zeal is unmistakable, but The Passion of the Christ will leave many viewers emotionally drained rather than spiritually uplifted.”

The film holds a weighted average of 47 out of 100 based on 44 critics, indicating “mixed or average reviews.”

The Passion of the Christ carries a 7.3 user rating. CinemaScore — which measures opening-weekend audience reaction — awarded the film a rare A+.

Ebert’s review stands as one of secular criticism’s most generous engagements with the film. He called it “a film about an idea” — specifically, that it is necessary to fully comprehend the Passion if Christianity is to make any sense — and described Gibson as communicating that idea with singleminded urgency. Ebert acknowledged the violence as the most extreme he had ever seen in a mainstream film while refusing to call it gratuitous, noting that it serves Gibson’s stated theological purpose. He also offered the clearest rebuttal to the antisemitism charge: the story involves a Jew who claimed to replace the established religion, arrested by some of his fellow Jews, executed by Rome — and that no race killed Jesus, because Jesus died by God’s will to fulfill his purpose.

“This is not a sermon or a homily, but a visualization of the central event in the Christian religion. Take it or leave it.”

Corliss called the film “a serious, handsome, excruciating film that radiates total commitment.”