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When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Pope Julius II (Rex Harrison) fights his foes on the battlefield and orders Michelangelo (Charlton Heston) to paint the Sistine Chapel.The sets and the costumes are grand. Harrison and Heston are big time actors. However the drama isn't there. The movie spends the first ten minutes pontificating on the greatest of Michelangelo. It's not only unnecessarily. It drains all the tension from the movie. This is not an art appreciation course. I like Rex Harrison's dictatorial Pope but I'm not convinced with Charlton Heston's tortured artist. Heston's performance is unappealing and false. He is biblical in his portrayal. In modern parlance, this is Oscar bait. It looks like an Oscar movie but it doesn't have any of the filling. It is stiff and over-cooked. All the drama has been boiled out.

The story of the rivalry between Pope Julius II and Michelangelo is an epic movie from director Carol Reed, which not only contrasts the lavish life of the Pope with the hardscrabble existence of his famous protégé but also shows the common ground between them - a deep faith. This is early 16th century Italy. Rex Harrison, as the Pope, is a soldier who leads his forces in battle. He believes this is his calling in order to save the Papal States from being overrun by foreigners. He is no 21st century Pope Francis; however, he does appreciate art and the role of great artists to interpret the faith. This explains his relationship with Michelangelo.Rex Harrison dominates every scene he appears in. Harrison is very impressive with his classic voice and an outstanding script and he gives a strong persona to Pope Julius in his long white and red robes. He is a renaissance-warrior pope who has moments when he becomes almost like a kindred spirit of Michelangelo, if only briefly.Julius makes his entrance on a white horse following one of his battles while pieces of bread are thrown to the peasants in the town square. His costumed entourage follow as the people kneel and bless themselves. Overblown definitely; but certainly a grand spectacle. I also was taken by the quarry scenes where stone masons are seen cutting and sculpting marble or workers sawing through it and moving it on pulleys. After first rejecting the idea of painting the Sistine Chapel, Michelangelo comes to embrace it after seeing a vision in the sky that inspired the idea of painting the Creation in the Chapel. The sparring of two strong-willed giants of the early 1500s is a match of forceful arguments; however, because he has the power, Julius is able to have his way. A devout Christian, Michelangelo still did not bend easily to the Pope's will. Later, Michelangelo realizes he needed the pope's determination to force him to finish painting the Sistine Chapel.It is amusing to watch the Pope pass underneath the scaffolding inside the famous chapel as his procession ducks splattering paint, and falling objects. We see Julius chiding the artist for showing disrespect to his cardinals, while defending the frescoes that are being attacked as pagan. Later, we find Julius visiting the bedside of the ailing painter saying that he has been too overbearing and that he will take him off the project, and send him off to his hometown of Florence with a pension while Raphael takes over. This has the intended effect of forcing the painter back to the job. In the end, we see the bond between the artist and the warrior pope whose real legacy might have been that he recognized the talent of the artist Michelangelo, not his role in preventing the sack of Rome. Theirs was more like a troubled father-son relationship. Julius seems to understand the deep faith and timeless quality of Michelangelo's work more than the artist himself who failed to grasp its profound effect on the pope. Julius admitted that he lacked the faith that inspired great art and thus he could not be an artist. Thus, he appreciated it and learned from it.I liked the female lead in the movie, played by Diane Cilento, who had a deep affection for the artist, but it was an unrequited love. Was Michelangelo too consumed with art to be interested in women? It does raise a question, however, about a young man in the prime of life, who is passionate in every other way. We don't know the answer and it hardly seems to matter to the story but it is worth noting. This woman in particular knew his talent and also influenced him to persevere. The movie is one more of Heston's iconic roles drawn from the history of the the Jewish and Christian faiths. But most of all, it is a movie with superb performances by two great actors representing different aspects of Christendom in the early 1500's.

a book. its adaptation. great actors. and beauty of nuances. result - not only a film. but a pledge for values. a realistic portrait of a genius. map of relationship between two different forms of power. and remarkable show. it is this kind of movie who becomes memorable because it contains a part of you. you may discover yourself in lines of Julius II. or you can be Michelangelo. important is the fact - you are not out of battle. because each character is more than silhouette of a nice shadow. because , the art of fresco, the taste of epic of Hollywood is only part , instrument for a splendid work of Rex Harrison and Charles Heston. this is its central virtue. to be portrait of a time, out of idealistic web and, in same time, in same measure, mirror for every period of history.

"I cannot give you mediocre," Michelangelo says to Pope Julius II when discussing the painting of the Sistine ceiling. That may have been the case for him in the 16th century but certainly not for movie viewers in the 20th. This superficial hokum boasts a story so sketchy that real acting only gets in the way of the posturing proclamations of the characters. The film is shot in the widescreen Todd-AO process but it appears that the director had no good idea of how to use the widescreen to enhance a story that just about screams for it. Fortunately, someone else (probably cinematographer Leon Shamroy) does have at least an idea and gets it across a few times, generally combined with mattes and other special effects. For example, toward the end of the film there is one nice twisting shot of the nearly finished Sistine ceiling that uses the wide screen to give the viewer a hint of the real experience. Unfortunately, this camera work is all but overpowered by relentless, overloud, "awe-inspiring" music. Elsewhere, the music is not quite as over-the-top but it does give pause to hear the popular 13th century saltarello in a 16th century context. (This is about like a rap singer doing "Oh! Susanna" in a remake of "2001: A Space Odyssey.") Meanwhile, the ridiculous tacked on "love story" is laughable in any century with the love-interest done up in such typical 1960s style that she is more than reminiscent of another interstellar conquest of Captain Kirk than a highborn woman of the Italian Renaissance.