Starring: F. Murray Abraham, Anna Kanakis, Dolph Lundgren, Ornella Muti, Max von Sydow Directed By: Giulio Base Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Binding: DVD Format: AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: 20th Century Fox Number of Items: 1 Region Code: 1 Release Date: February 19, 2008 Running Time: 111 minutes Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Product Description: When a solar eclipse and earthquakes simultaneously occur throughout the Roman Empire Emperor Tiberius calls upon Tito Valerio Tauro (Daniele Liotti) a prominent Roman investigator to seek out the proposed cause... an alleged resurrection of a Jewish rabbi... a powerful mystery that could bring down an empire.System Requirements:Running Time: 112 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/HISTORICAL EPIC Rating: PG-13 UPC: 024543445784 Manufacturer No: 2244578
Amazon.com: In The Final Inquiry, a crisis of faith leads the Roman emperor Tiberius to send a special envoy to Jerusalem to find out the truth: Did Jesus of Nazareth truly rise from the dead? Of course, the truth proves dangerous, as wily Pontius Pilate (Hristo Shopov, who played the same role in Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ) wants to keep anything to do with Jesus under wraps. The envoy (hunky Italian actor Daniele Liotti) doubts that the followers of Jesus are anything but frauds until he falls in love with a beautiful young woman named Tabitha (Monica Cruz, Penelope's just as lovely little sister) who opens his eyes to another world. The Final Inquiry spruces up a classic story of finding faith by mixing in moments straight out of Mission: Impossible and CSI, but such elements will be inoffensive to Christians and entertaining to secular viewers. More problematic is the dubbing (a bit hard to understand at times and woefully hammy at others) and the often clumsy fight scenes. The producers try to class up the joint by casting F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus) as Tabitha's father and Max von Sydow (The Seventh Seal, Hannah and Her Sisters), but it's actually Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV) as the envoy's German slave who makes the strongest impression--his mammoth frame and melancholy eyes suit the Biblical milieu perfectly. --Bret Fetzer
Interesting movie I would recommend this movie . I found interesting to watch . I do not understand why some of the reviews are negative it was actually a good movie .
"I'm Looking For A Man ~ More Dangerous Dead Than Alive" Synopsis: The '07 release `The Final Inquiry' is a watchable, though not fully engaging exploration into the mystery of the resurrection as embodied in a fictional tale concerning a Roman emissary,Tito Valerio Tauro (Daniele Liotti) and his mission to the Holy Land to locate the missing body of Jesus of Nazareth.
After arriving at his destination the search for the truth begins as Tito questions all the appropriate people about the events of the crucifixcion and the three days that followed: Pontius Pilate and his wife, Saul of Tarsus, Longinous (the Roman soldier who stuck his spear into Jesus as he hung on the cross), the apostle Peter and of course Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
During his stay in the Holy Land the young Roman also finds something unexpected, he falls in love with a beautiful young Jewish girl and follower of Christ named Tabitha (Monica Cruz).Her love helps to awaken the staunch pagan to a new belief and a new beginning.
Critique: `The Final Inquiry' attempts to fit into the Biblical epic mold made so popular in the 50's, coming away with mixed results. The acting is noticeably stiff here and there and at moments comes across as one of those documentaries with live-action re-enactments rather than a feature film.
Along the same line of reasoning, the soundtrack falls well short of capturing the romanticism and angst of the music it attempts to emulate. While it does succeed in enhancing the on-screen events it isn't particularly memorable on its own.
F. Murray Abraham has a small part and is excellent as always and the legendary Max von Sydow makes several appearances on-screen in the role of Emperor Tiberius. The rest of the cast of lesser knowns do an adequate job of interpreting the first century A.D. events surrounding the death and resurrection of the Messiah so it should find a appreciative following within the Christian community.
Personal Observation: The role of Mary, Mother of Jesus was played by Maria Pia Calzone. Though she never spoke there was something mesmerizing about her gaze and countenance. I would have liked to see more time spent on developing her character and persona. The same applies to Vincenzo Bocciarelli in the role of the young Caligula. He appears briefly at the end of the film but he captures the essence of the mad Emperor-to-be perfectly.
My Rating: -3 ½ Stars-.
Too bad they don't crusify in Rome any more because everyone that had anything to do with this stinker should be offed. An obvious attempt by clueless bafoons to cash in on The Passion market.
Buy "The Inquiry" ... Junk > "The Final Inquiry" Bad dubbing, too much of a chick flick, some blond/blue-eyed Hebrews in the cast (refugees from ABBA?). Disappointing. Jesus holds his hands up like some Byzantine painting as Lazarus rises..looks like he running for office trying hush a convention crowd.
F. Murray Abraham should do an Apostle Paul film as the lead...please read the Bible account before you write script!! PLEASE! Why is this concept so difficult to understand?
Fear the Roman fax machines! "The Final Inquiry" opens with the crucifixion of Jesus, followed by the earthquake. This is apparently felt around the world, not only by the emperor but even in Germany, where our hero, a Roman tribune named Tito, is fighting Germanic tribesmen. He picks up one named Brixos (Dolph Lundgren) as a servant, then is told that the emperor wants to see him. Arriving at Emperor Tiberius' island home, we're told that the emperor is curious about the earthquake, and has a report that a man named Jesus was crucified on the same day it happened. He wants Tito to head to Judea and find out about this Jesus guy.
OK, a few things here. First, I find it hard to believe that in 33 AD there would have been a record of the crucifixion of a local criminal in an outskirt of the empire right there in the city of Rome's records, all within a few days AFTER it happened. Don't get me wrong, the Romans were pretty advanced, but among their many inventions fax machines were not one. I was also confused as to why the emperor was so interested in Jesus, when there's no real connection discerned between His execution and the earthquake (at least from the Roman perspective). It's later revealed that the emperor is interested in the possibility of being resurrected, but I still don't buy it. I'm guessing, since Max von Sydow plays Tiberius, that Max just wanted to know how Fabrizio Bucci did playing a role he had played decades ago.
In script-writing classes they teach you about a thing called "suspension of disbelief". This is that point in the movie where you convince your audience to believe the plot (for example, Number Five becoming a conscious robot after getting struck by lightning in "Short Circuit"). This movie fails in the suspension of disbelief, and thus just a mere 10-15 minutes in you will find yourself going, "Huh?"
So any way, Tito and Brixos head to Jerusalem incognito, and while meeting a contact they get ambushed by Jewish rebels. They manage to fight them off, then run away from a patrolling Roman unit - you know, the people who would be on their side. While running from his own people, Tito bumps into Tabitha (the same one from Acts) while she's being harassed by a drunkard. Tito scares the man away, then falls head over heels for Tabitha (no reason given except, you know, they're the leading roles and have to fall in love). He then - get this - tells this girl he's just met HIS FULL REAL NAME, and the fact he's A ROMAN. As she walks away she turns and SHOUTS HIS FULL NAME OUT IN THE OPEN!
Ladies and gentlemen, the worst spy in the history of the world.
The rest of the movie follows Tito and Brixos as they investigate the disappearance of Jesus and the possibility of the resurrection. They deal with the supposed cover-up by Jewish and Roman authorities, and watch as the apostle Stephen is killed. Paul makes an appearance, and I thought they would do more with him, but ultimately his appearance is just fanservice to Christians. You know how Chewbacca was pretty much only in Episode III so Star Wars fans could say, "Hey, that's Chewbacca!" Well, Paul's pretty much in here just so Christians can say, "Hey! That's Paul!" (for the record, I myself am Christian, and don't mean any of this in sarcasm against them - I think I just spared myself a lot of comments by clearing that up)
A love story evolves between Tito and Tabitha, and when Tabitha is caned to death by her father (F Murray Abraham...what the heck is he doing in this movie?) Tito runs to Peter to ask him for help. Peter doesn't want to (wow, so much for "feed my sheep"!) so Tito has to guilt trip him into doing it. Peter relents and heals Tabitha, and Tito has his "born again" moment, becoming a Christian.
One of the last sequences of the movie is with Tiberius back on his island, reading the letter from Tito. Tito confirms the resurrection of Jesus, so Tiberius tells his aides - I'm not making this up - that he's making Christianity the official religion of the empire. WHAT?! I don't claim to be an expert on Roman history, but I think I lost a few brain cells watching this scene. Actually I lost more a few seconds later when Tiberius' nephew Caligula smothers him to death and declares himself emperor, burning Tiberius' order regarding Christianity. I guess the fax machine broke and Tiberius couldn't have sent it quicker.
"The Final Inquiry" could have been like "The Robe" or even "Quo Vadis", in that it focuses on the early followers of Jesus rather than the life of Jesus Himself. Unfortunately, it's marred by a bad script with cheesy scenes and cliche character development (the born-again moment, two enemies becoming friends before one of them dies, etc). Even the fight sequences (yes, a Jesus movie with fight sequences involving death - I was reminded of that scene in "Dead Alive" where the priest jumps into a pack of zombies and declares, "I kick a** for the Lord!") don't do much to save it. The sole redeeming value of this film was the soundtrack by Andrea Morricone, which is admittedly very splendid. I wouldn't suggest viewing this, though. Unless, of course, you want to see Paul kick Stephen for five minutes straight.
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