Exodus : Gods & Kings (2014) Review!!

Synopsis –The defiant leader Moses rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses, setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.

My Take – I am a huge fan of director Ridley Scott whether its epic film (Gladiator), a fan boy film (Prometheus) or star studded lack luster film (The Counselor), I am up for anything he has to offer. His team up with one of my favorite heavy weights Christian Bale seemed like a combination is too promising to ignore. So despite the lukewarm promos & negative reviews, I wanted to see and judge this film for myself. The story follows Moses (Christian Bale), a Hebrew who grew up in the Egyptian palace side by side with Pharaoh’s own son Ramses (Joel Edgerton) as the general in the army. When Moses’ real origin was revealed, he gets exiled. There in the wilderness, he obeys God’s orders by way of the burning bush to return to Egypt to ask the new Pharaoh to set the Hebrews free from slavery. Only after God sent ten dreadful plagues did Ramses relent. Moses led the Hebrews across the Red Sea and into the Promised Land. Different religions have a slight alterations to this story, but as I have read this film tries to be faithful to the biblical story, with obvious changes to suit a live action audience. The worse part of this film, even though its meant to be a religious epic, is the overall anti-God undertone, which was a bit uncomfortable for me.

Some people may expect this to be a religious film. However, the whole film felt soul-less, and this made the long running time seem so unbearably slow. First of all,the epic was crammed into 145 minutes instead of telling the whole story for 180 minutes of the original epic. This resulted to the lots of unevenness in the pacing of the story as some events moved quickly that the viewer would even not get the emotional impact of the events particularly the plague.The very way God was portrayed did not sit very well with me. God in this film was personified as an imperious young boy who was projected to be mercilessly violent and vindictive. There was no hint of compassion nor magnanimity here. Moses was even arguing against God. The film takes advantage of higher technology in special visual effects to create grander vistas and more realistic plagues. It tried to inject some scientific logic into the supernatural events, particularly the Red Sea crossing. However, the explanation for the turning of water into blood was quite a stretch. Apart from the incredibly distracting casting choices, we know ancient Egyptians were brown to dark brown, the costumes and setting just didn’t ring true and continuously brought me out of the movie and into the increasingly monotonous script that lacked any originality, spark or wit. Christian Bale is a talented actor. He makes for a watchable yet not entirely memorable Moses, his incarnation has moments of brief humanity but it feels he has stepped into his own zone to portray one of the most well-known religious figures, bad call! On the other end we have Joel Edgerton, fails to deliver on what should’ve been a glorious big screen villain in the form of Rhamses. All eyeliner and grizzled looks, Edgerton fails to convince in his role and it feels from the get go that sadly he may have been miscast.

He wasn’t convincing at all as the Pharaoh and emotions and sympathy towards the death of his son won’t be felt at all. Their head-to-head clash simply did not elevate the interest as the story moves forward. I am still not sure why would John Turturoo, Aaron Paul, Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kinglsey signed this film to portray small unremarkable roles. The only positive thing about this is it is visually impressive.Nothing more.Too bad that the filmmakers focused too much on them rather than the characterizations and the emotional impact that it should have on the viewer. Ridley Scott sure knows how to conduct his production department and his sweeping camera sure can capture some outstanding action but the one time storyteller has lost sight of how to portray his characters. On the whole, Exodus: Gods and Kings is a disappointing film. Yes! It does give us some delicious visuals, but is that enough to get the film sailing down the memory lane? Sadly no! with cardboard characters & uneven proceedings to blame for, this film is a complete biblical debacle.