Review of Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) by Therocksbarney — 03 Jan 2015

“Exodus: Gods and Kings” is a perfect representation of its director’s/Ridley Scott’s career. Hit and miss. Although Scott has done well with “Alien” and “Gladiator” in the past, films such as “Robin Hood” or “The Counselor” haven’t. “Exodus: Gods and Kings” unfortunately falls into the latter category. But it’s not because of whether it’s poor or not, it’s because it simply just doesn’t earn any more of the stars than I have given it.

How the film does earn the majority of its stars is in its visual effects and cinematography. Ancient Egypt looks real/seemingly historically accurate thanks to this (I can’t confirm whether it is or not as I have no clue about the era) and we can also praise those in charge of costume, makeup, set in regards to this. All of this made me want to go and read up on everything Ancient Egypt.

And it’s not just the landscape that looks great either, the film’s visual effects and cinematography really shine when we see the 10 plagues, or rather the highlight of “Exodus: Gods and Kings”. First comes the river running red with blood, then the frogs, the lice, the flies, the dead livestock, the boils, the hailstorms, the locusts, the darkness and then the death of Egypt’s first born. These each looked incredible and I really do mean that. The films visual effects and cinematography are on par with those in “Interstellar” and therefore the best I’ve seen and experienced since I started reviewing. I really felt like God was having his way.

But this is where things turn sour. The use of that one word. God. Obviously he’s going to make an appearance in the film. And he is portrayed as a kid, played by the British 11 year old Isaac Andrews. Now, I had no idea how they were going to portray God in this film. And I was surprised when this kid ominously appears to Moses (Christian Bale), speaking fluently and suggesting he go free “his people”/the Hebrews. This works initially. But what begins to develop is this really annoying character. And halfway through the film, it seemed even Moses was annoyed at him.

But it is when Aaron Paul (playing Joshua) (yes you read that correctly, and yes he’s terrible, stick to the meth Jesse) when watching Moses talking to God sees him talking to nothing, even though it’s clear that God is there because of the massive hailstorm in the background, that I realised that Scott is perhaps trying to say something here in regards to God. This is a difficult point to explain. Let me start by explaining how Moses never seems like he really is a Hebrew and I don’t recall Moses calling himself a Hebrew at any point in the film. There is no flashbacks to say that Moses is a Hebrew neither. We can only trust what people are saying. Now, for me, this raised a question of doubt in regards to whether God was meant to be seen as real in the film, or as just one of Moses illusions? Let me point out that there is no question as to whether God is real or not in this film. He is meant to be real. Hence the plagues and the sea parting. But to a modern viewer, such as myself, I found myself asking the question as to whether God was real. As to whether in our society we should be praising this petulant kid who wants his way or Moses. I mean, what kind of God would realise 10 plagues like that on anyone? The film poses that question well. So it can be commended for that too.

Now, that’s all that’s good in the film, unfortunately. The rest is poor. Neither Joel Edgerton (playing Rameses) nor Christian Bale save the day. The script is terrible, again not quite living up to its source material.

Yet that is, to be fair, all that “Exodus Gods: and Kings” does poorly. The rest is simply below average. It is not a good film. Films have to earn their stars and “Exodus: Gods and Kings” simply only earns 5.

OUT OF 10. Jeez.