Watch: Chariots flip and crash in a new clip from Ben-Hur

If there’s one thing the studio behind Ben-Hur wants you to know about their film, it’s that it has a chariot race. The race has been featured prominently in trailers and featurettes, and now it is central to the first two “mainstream” clips from the film.

In the first clip, we saw the two main characters getting ready for the race — and now, in the second clip, we can see a bunch of chariots colliding within said race.

Here is the new clip, which was released this morning:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VjkAKY4qG0?feature=oembed&w=500&h=281]

There is, of course, more to Ben-Hur than the chariot race, and I’m not just referring to the “faith-based” stuff. There’s Judah falling in love with Esther, there’s the sea battle, there is Judah’s mother and sister hiding in a leper colony, etc.

Presumably the studio could use one of those clips in its secular publicity campaign, to convince us that there’s more to this movie than a single action scene — something that hints at characters and dramatic textures beyond the chariot race.

And maybe the studio will. The film comes to theatres in ten days, and presumably we will see even more clips and other bits of new footage by then. So, with any luck, perhaps one of those clips will depict something other than the chariot race.

Check out earlier trailers and other videos here: