Review of Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) by Omar K — 17 Jul 2015

Out of all the directors in the world, the one most suited to making major blockbusters with sweeping special effects is in fact Ridley Scott. Heâ??s done it before with Gladiator, Robin Hood and Alien, but his new film didnâ??t deal with aliens, Romans, or a folklore legend, instead his new filmâ??s origins were rooted in perhaps the most powerful book on the planet. The question was: could Scott excite us visually yet enthral us emotionally with a tale of biblical proportions? The answer is yes and no as Exodus: Gods and Kings is a powerful visual treat yet a damp emotional resonator as the film lacks a few layers of depth to truly match its source material. To be fair, not many people nowadays would watch Cecil B. DeMilleâ??s 1956 film The Ten Commandments therefore Exodus deserved to be made but maybe not made the way in which Scott felt it should have been. Considering Exodus is a book from the Bible, it needed to have an almost ethereal quality that would transcend its place as entertainment and make you think profoundly of the significance of the past. Exodus: Gods and Kings depicts the tale of the Prince of Egypt turned leader of the Hebrews, Moses. Mosesâ?? relationship with his â??brotherâ?? Ramesses is delved into until his exile as a shepherd, to the apparition of a young boy as God telling him his lifeâ??s calling, to the ten plagues, the exodus of the Hebrews, the parting of the sea and the Ten Commandments. Even though the book of Exodus was inscribing a past event in the course of history, who would have known that it had all the features to become a blockbusting film full of entertaining thrills.

In Exodus: Gods and Kings, there is a great focus on two characters out of the fracas of actors involved in the film: Moses and Ramesses. Christian Bale stars as the prince-turned-prophet Moses, and as normal Bale is convincingly effective in yet another lead performance. Moses however isnâ??t given the magical importance normally attributed to his character as he is more of a bystander in Godâ??s plans. It is as if he is the poster-boy of the Exodus rather than the underlying driving force behind everything. This is summed up by the fact that he doesnâ??t part the sea, it naturally recedes itself. It would have been better if Moses was given far more power and control over the story and not just be able to talk to God. Baleâ??s Moses experiences a great physical transformation throughout the film and considering he is Moses, there is not enough psychological change, but nevertheless he still remains the most in-depth character. Joel Edgerton stars as Ramesses II, and oh my word is he perfect for the role. At first sight he wouldnâ??t be your main option as a pharaoh, but the make up artists and costume designers did a sterling job with his character. Edgerton has that aura of majesty about him therefore coupling this with his bold-pharaoh appearance, he simply becomes Ramesses and every scene involving him has a powerful grandeur to it you look forward to his scenes. He, unlike Moses lacks any development to his character because from the beginning to the end he appears the same person undamaged by his experiences, which is a shame and the only blot to the role. Moses and Ramesses are given perhaps too much screen time compared to many other characters that are underplayed. Actors such as John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Ben Kingsley and Sigourney Weaver hardly get anything to say or do to endear themselves to you and unfortunately have nothing to contribute to a film that relies solely on its two protagonists.

Filmed in Almeria, Spain, Exodus: Gods and Kings may appear extremely magnificent in its visuals but it essentially is filmed in the desert of Spain, the opposite side of the Mediterranean to where it in actual fact took place. Exodus is truly epic in its ambitions and whoever you are, you will applaud the film for even attempting to replicate such visions so realistically. You can see that Scott wanted to emphasise Exodusâ?? heavenly origins by multiplying grandeur with grandeur and he manages to do so by making it biblical on just a visual scale. Gods and Kings is a visual treat and if Scottâ??s initial target was to prioritise visuals over emotional resonance, he has done an amazing job because the visuals match its source material on a scale that may even transgress its biblical proportion. There is a wide variety of locations that are utilised including the lair of the Pharaohs in Memphis, Mount Sinai, the city of Pithom which holds the Hebrew slaves and the Red Sea. Even better, the amount of diverse animals and sudden events make Exodus a true feast for the eyes, as there is so much to be entertained from. There are large crocodiles, thousands of frogs, and a flurry of locusts to a sea of blood, a beast of a hailstorm and a mighty tsunami. This might all be down to the story of Exodus, but boy does it construct a good film as it provides so much visual entertainment to make this 3,000-year-old tale come to life.

Considering Exodus: Gods and Kings derives from biblical source material, the emotion of the film should be over-heightened to get that sense of ethereal development. There are more scenes of a spectacle nature than intimate moments that leave you far more consumed, and this marks the film as less personal rather than something with substance. The moments involving Ramesses and Moses are the scenes that electrify because you can feel the power of both characters, but these moments are sporadic as they are hardly together after Moses is sent into exile. The moments that do manage to heighten the emotional depth of the film is the conflict Moses feels within himself and this most of the time involves God in the form of a young boy. This is the scriptâ??s fault as there is a shallowness to the tale that simply shows us the story instead of emphasising it. If the film was perhaps 30 minutes longer, the amount of scenes that could be weaved into Gods and Kings emphasising the larger-than-life significance of what the story of Exodus entails, would make the film not just visually impressive as it already is, but also emotionally stirring. This would give the film a sense of proportion not just on the eye, but also spiritually because after all a biblical story needs to literally perform miracles to reach the classical standing of its source material. Unlike 2014â??s biblical epic Noah, Exodus lacks in perhaps despondent emotion and seems too nice of a film to really become a film of biblical magnitude. Exodus: Gods and Kings is a spectacle in every sense of the word, even the title of the film suffers from grandeur, therefore it should have been foreseen that Exodus, no matter how many individual intimate moments it incorporated, was always going to be suppressed by the lavish depiction of this world.

There are a number of things that will leave you unclear about what Exodus is trying to tell you and thus you can get lost in its abundance. The film evades you at various points because it assumes you already know everything that is geographically and historically related to the story of Exodus. It needs more clarification in order to consume you fully in its splendour. Exodus doesnâ??t waste any time in setting the scene. Like all historical films, the small paragraph of writing that precedes the movie is utilised for Exodus but it doesnâ??t really tell you enough to make you understand the atmosphere the film initially shoulders. But, maybe it isnâ??t about trying to get to grips with the history of Egypt and the emotional importance of its biblical origins; it is about displaying to you through such a vivid, visual reincarnation what Moses did and the process of his life transformation to not only entertainingly show you the basic story of the Exodus, but to also compel you into wanting to understand further this otherworldly realm that is the past that has shaped our present.

Exodus: Gods and Kings should be more emotionally resonating considering its biblical source material, but what it lacks in the storytelling department, it makes up for it with its visually insatiable entertainment.

â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â??â?? 6/10.