Review of Gods of Egypt (2016) by Thomas A — 16 Mar 2016

Good: wonderful visuals, gold blood.

Bad: script, acting, direction, portraying Thoth as effeminate pompous ass who failed to figure out the riddle the first time, silly Sphinx, flat earth, ridiculous characterization of Ra, various miscasts, predictability, breathing in space (?)...

Overall I had a good time watching this film. I cannot understand the hate this film has received. Are people just getting dumber? So many claimed it was hard to understand or confusing. Seriously? Those people who found this film difficult to understand should probably just stick to children's movies.

Bad CGI? Overall no. Some scenes could have been done better but overall it was a visual delight full of eye candy from the sets, to the costumes, the transformations of the gods, the Underworld, the fight scenes, Ra on his space ship, etc...

There were some glaring inconsistencies with respect to the dead speaking to the living (something you'll find today in court rooms where only the dead can speak and the living cannot be heard). Impossible things actually are possible.

In this filmic world the advanced gods of high technology don't seem to have much technology, nor intelligence.

I like Geoffrey Rush, especially as Barbosa, but as Ra I feel is a miscast (sorry Geoffrey). Rush's performance is adequate, but not truly believable as Ra. Furthermore, having Ra pull the sun across a flat earth everyday is just plainly silly. And being so easily disabled by Set was equally silly. The writers obviously don't comprehend the rules for believable cinema.

All that said to can the film outright is utter nonsense too. If you go into it and let yourself take a ride into this fantasy world you will go on a fun journey albeit a flimsy one. Who cafés? It's just escapism cinema. It seems like everyone wants to be a "critic", like pulling films apart is somehow a noble pursuit. Yeah right.

I do agree however that the cast doesn't reflect the proper skin tone of Egypt. So the claims of Hollywood whitewashing I feel are valid. Hollywood is run by pale skinned Zionist Jews who have co-opted various elements of Egyptian history into their own belief system so I guess it's to be expected.

My score is 3.5/5.

Don't think too hard and go for a fun ride into the fabled lands of ancient Egypt.