Gods of Egypt
Starring: Brenton Thwaites, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Gerard Butler, Rufus Sewell, Elodie Young, Bryan Brown, Chadwick Boseman, Courtney Eaton, Geoffrey Rush, Rachael Blake, Emma Booth
Directed by: Alex Proyas
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Fantasy
2016

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A mortal (Brenton Thwaites) teams up with the god Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) to stop a vengeful god (Gerard Butler) from ruling over Egypt.

Review:

Tim: Gods of Egypt looked like an utter disaster from the very first trailer. The bad CGI, the ridiculousness of the plot- everything pointed to this being an epic failure. It's not a surprise then, that the movie bombed at the box office. No one wanted to go see a movie like this. As is often the case, this movie isn't as bad as everyone (myself included) believed it would be. However, it's also a far cry from being good. This movie deserved to bomb, and hopefully, Hollywood studios are more careful with their projects moving forward (good luck to that actually happening). It's a bit odd to me, because I always think Alex Proyas is a better director than maybe he actually is- maybe I just think he has a cool name, and so I associate talent with it? I don't know, but this movie is pretty bad.

I suppose maybe there was a kernel of a good idea somewhere in this film? If you were looking to make a big budget action fantasy film, and you have these powerful Egyptian gods and these mythical monsters, maybe that could have worked. It feels like the script threw way too much into the mix. It's hard to keep the gods and monsters straight and there wasn't much of a impetus to do that. Why even bother? The script felt lackluster and everything that followed went along that same path. The studio didn't invest enough in the special effects to make them believable, so we get these cheap, distracting effects that constantly remind audiences this is a cheap, ineffective cash grab.

The cast is so much better than a movie like this deserves. I kind of feel bad for them. Brenton Thwaites is our protagonist, and I understand why he signed up for this. He gets a lot of screen time and honestly didn't do too bad. He was fairly enjoyable in the lead role. I always love seeing Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (he'll always be Jamie Lannister to me). I suppose he worked well also. He has ridiculous things to utter and the movie didn't help him much, but his performance was solid. Gerard Butler makes a menacing villain. While he also comes across as silly, I thought his performance was mostly decent, given what he had to work with. Chadwick Boseman is a good actor but he just wasn't right for his part. He never seemed to fit with the rest of the cast and just seemed out of place. Rufus Sewell is always dependable in these kinds of films. I hated to see Geoffrey Rush waste his talent in a bad movie like this. So, while the movie is disappointing, they assembled an impressive cast. It was fun seeing all these actors, although I do wish they had worthwhile things to do.

A huge problem with this film is the script. It's overly complicated and overly packed with characters, creatures, and mythology. I'm not sure what the intent was- were they trying to build a world here for sequels? It felt like the movie was overwhelmed with characters and events and none of them were particularly exciting. I had no reason to invest the energy to remember all the characters names or how they fit into the plot. Now, I'm not saying the movie should have been dumbed down- it's just such so scattered. It needed more focus, it needed to be tightened up and more time spent on less things. As is, it's just a total mess.

Now, there is something fun about seeing a big, epic spectacle like this that just doesn't work. I wanted the movie to be good, but it isn't. Still, it wasn't completely unenjoyable. There were solid moments sprinkled amidst the mess. I didn't hate this movie, even as I recognized the myriad flaws in it. There can be something entertaining about a giant mess, especially if it is harmless like this one.

Gods of Egypt is clearly a misfire. There's so many ways this could have been better. However, it's not a terrible movie, just a big disappointment.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: I, Robot; Dark City, Clash of the Titans