Benedict Cumberbatch, who isn’t present until the final act is absolutely scene-stealing from the get-go. I won’t say much about the details of his role, but this performance is up there alongside Brendan Fraser in Killers of the Flower Moon for the “Shortest Yet Funniest” appearance in a film this year…
There's a lot of supporting characters who get a chance to shine and no one grasps the opportunity more than Omar Sy, stealing scenes left, right and centre but a special mention also has to go out to Benedict Cumberbatch for the part he plays in this - unexpectedly brilliant.
James McAvoy and Benedict Cumberbatch are used sparingly but both of them look like they're having the time of their lives. And David Oyelowo proves again how he can make a lasting impression with just a few minutes of screen time (and that he needs to do more comedies!!)
A particularly fateful scene of Cumberbatch sporting a new (and very recognizable) look is played to perfection, one of the few but joyous camp moments of the film.
It’s entertaining stuff, with a subversive swagger and a cheekiness that is not generally associated with films of faith. But the cheerfully disorderly tonal collision – the film combines levitating robed stoners getting high on homegrown ‘lingon weed’ with harrowing scenes of brutality and crucifixion – may be a turn-off to the more conservative end of the audience spectrum for Christian cinema. As with his previous film, the all-Black Western The Harder They Fall, Samuel filters a well-worn genre through a Black lens, and has a great deal of fun doing so.
It certainly won’t work for everyone, but the picture’s energy is infectious, thanks in part to Samuel’s self-penned score (augmented by funk classics like The Jackson Sisters’ ’I Believe In Miracles’, and The Jones Girls’ ’Nights Over Egypt’). It’s perhaps best approached with the understanding that, while the film’s foundation of faith is genuine, absolutely nothing is sacred.
Our hero’s initial scepticism provides plenty of laughs. When Mary insists she was a virgin when she fell pregnant, Clarence turns to Joseph and says, “You believed all this?“ There are fun cameos from Benedict Cumberbatch as a grime-covered beggar, David Oyelowo as a hilariously stern John the Baptist and James McAvoy as a Roman official who is two steps away from Life of Brian’s Biggus Dickus