Exodus: Gods and Kings

Starring: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Jon Turturro, Aaron Paul, Ben Kingsley, Ben Mendelsohn, Sigourney Weaver, Hiam Abbass, Ewen Bremner, María Valverde
Directed by: Ridley Scott
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Moses (Christian Bale) confronts the Pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton) about freeing his Jewish slaves..

Review:

Tim: I like Ridley Scott, but I'm not sure exactly what happened with Exodus: Gods and Kings. This is a big budget biblical epic that tells a fascinating, memorable story. Unfortunately, there was just something missing. Despite everything on screen, the movie came across as a bit lifeless. It was okay, it was fine, but for a movie like this, you know it wanted to be significantly better. The movie isn't overly dull, but at 150 minutes, it's too bloated for its own good. I wanted to like this movie, but I left feeling a bit blase. Now, I will say that Scott does just enough to make this movie worth watching, but I still expected more.

The story of Moses, Ramses, the Israelites and the Egyptians has been told on screen before. My question was, "Why are we retelling this story?" I'm down for it, but what was the reason? For a film like Noah, I get the desire to give a unique spin to the Biblical story. What was the differentiator here? The special effects are better now. There's a little more action. God appears (or maybe it's just his messenger) to Moses as a child. These things are all cosmetic, but there's no compelling reason for this movie to exist. It felt like it was made because it could, or maybe to capitalize on the box office of religious-themed movies in recent years. I'm not sure.

For anyone who's familiar with the Bible (I'm no expert, but I've read enough), this story will be both familiar and a little off-putting. All the main elements are here- Moses being saved by floating down the river in a basket, his friendship with Ramses, his falling out and exile, his calling by God, the ten plagues of Egypt, the parting of the red sea, the Ten Commandments. It all shows up here. However, there were many liberties taken with the Biblical story. Most of them didn't matter to me- if the Israelites are depicted as stronger and more aggressive than the subjugated people in the Bible, it's fine with me. I did have a slight problem with the extremely limited role Aaron played, especially compared to his essential role in the Bible. He was Moses' spokesperson. But here, I dare you to list one interesting or important thing Aaron did in the entire film.

I did enjoy the way the story linked the different plagues of Egypt, as many scholars have attempted to do. If the crocodiles caused the sea to turn red (whether from blood or kicking up the clay), the fish would die, the frogs would exit the water and come out on land. The frogs would die on land, bringing the flies. The flies would bring disease that impact livestock and maybe even boils. It's fascinating to see how this could have potentially happened. I also liked seeing the terrifying final plague, where the firstborn Egyptian children were killed in one night. The way this was depicted on screen was terrifying in that Old Testament style.

The special effects were pretty amazing. I loved seeing how Egypt came to life on screen. The best moments are the ones with the big, fancy scenes- the storms that hit Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea. If you like epic movies and epic sights, you'll find quite a lot to like here.

The cast was good, but not great. I've never loved Christian Bale, and he didn't do much to win me over here. He was perfectly fine as Moses and indeed had some strong moments. However, it wasn't the most memorable performance. I might have liked this movie with someone else in the lead role. I did enjoy the transformation of Joel Edgerton into Ramses. Edgerton is a fantastic, underrated actor and he delivered a very strong performance here. I loved seeing him play this character. Jon Turturro was fine, but in too small a role. Ben Kinglsey was good, but underutilized. I was really excited to see Aaron Paul here, but he has absolutely nothing to do. I don't know why he was here. The same thing for Sigourney Weaver- for an actress with as much talent as she has, she's given absolutely nothing to do. That was disappointing. The film becomes all about Bale and Edgerton, and the supporting cast gets short-shrifted.

At the end of the day, there's both good and bad present in Exodus: Gods and Kings. Scott gives us a decent film, but by asking us to sit through a 2.5 hour movie, we needed more of a payoff- we deserved a better film. While I wouldn't actively dissuade someone from seeing this movie (and I indeed enjoyed stretches of it), when you add it all up, Scott doesn't deliver enough to justify the run time. This movie is good, but it needed to be a lot better.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Ten Commandments, Noah, Kingdom of Heaven