The movie was fascinating to watch even just as secular historical fiction. I read one reviewer on Amazon who claimed to be an expert on 1st Century life in Israel. He said the movie nailed the Jewish and Roman daily existence of the times. Even the military tactics shown in the opening battle sequence were legit, right down to the "turtle" formation with their shields.
There was one theme in the movie that particularly resonated with me. When I first got transformed by the Holy Spirit several years ago, one of the most obvious changes in me was my appreciation for scripture. Prior to my being zapped reading the Bible was always just a massive bore and chore. "After Jesus" I was suddenly unable to get enough of the Bible. I was like a starving man who was allowed to eat as much of this amazing food as I wanted.
Along with the new appreciation was an increased awareness of and discernment of scripture. I was seeing things that I'd never seen before, even during multiple prior readings. One of those sighting was with regard to the Roman guards at the tomb. Matthew's gospel plainly states that it was common knowledge the priests paid off the Roman guard, convincing them to tell a story that should have theoretically resulted in their execution for dereliction of duty. Matthew couldn't have gotten away with writing that into his gospel if it wasn't truly a word on the street. And it's really the only way the guards could have stayed alive - the priests were willing to run interference on their behalf, simply to keep the truth from coming out.
Anyway, the scene with Clavius and the guard in the tavern was powerful. When the guard finally recounted what he really saw at the tomb, that actor convinced me that he had seen the real thing. And Clavius, after hearing the otherwise impossible-sounding tale replied, "And the priests paid you to say something else?" BOOM. Why would they pay someone to report something that might get themselves killed, when the true story sounded utterly insane to the uninitiated? Because the priests were that desperate to keep the truth under wraps.
I will definitely be watching this movie again soon.