Exodus: Gods and Kings

At first, I thought Scott was going to do the bidding of the Jewish lobby, which has long since failed to let the viewing public be moved by its bitter fate through a narrative sandal. Yet he goes about it in a surprisingly rational way, and so while the pragmatic appreciation of the seven plagues of Egypt by Pharaoh's croaker is still laughable, Moshe's revolution, in which he is on the edge of personal madness, is no longer feigned, and the unorthodox vision is definitely clamped at the bottom of the Red Sea, with even the slight shortcoming (the not-quite-functional portrayal of the bond between the "brothers," which is fortunately saved by both characters; and 20 minutes more would have helped) receding and both ordinary viewers and the those familiar with the literary work will be satisfied. (07/20/2015)

The retelling of a biblical story zillion times... this time reinterpreted by Ridley Scott. Well, if I didn’t know that Joel Edgerton is such an extremely flexible actor (those different masks, work with his body, accent), I'd say it all hinges on Bale. But Edgerton is the real hero of Exodus: Gods and Kings. Overall I'm not thrilled, but I guess it's good not to forget about some of the Hollywood classics. However, I consider The Prince of Egypt cartoon to be the best of all the treatments. (08/24/2019)

Trying to film a biblical story in order to have at least a little idea for a logical explanation is nonsense, which Ridley also realized in the end. What he didn't understand is the fact that there is a much better portrayal that has been around for decades and he won't even come close to it. Yes, this is more palatable for a modern audience, but the story is good on its own, and this shift to the action level won't help it in any way. (04/06/2015)

An untraditional presentation of God (the comparison God as a kid with a magnifying glass and people as ants lacks metaphor) and a story of Egyptian plagues. Scott works with modern themes and reflects the contemporary wherever he can. Sometimes this is to the benefit of the movie, sometimes to its harm. The problem is the restricted length (Sigourney appears almost as an extra) which eats away at the sophistication of the characters and the significance of some decisions. Exodus reminds me of the movie theater version of Kingdom of Heaven which, despite its quality workmanship, didn’t manage to say what it was all about and that wasn’t fixed until the director’s cut came out on Blue-Ray. The exteriors and the effects are well-polished and the Egyptian makeup soon didn’t matter anymore. At all stages of Moses, Bale was excellent, but his friendly atheist becomes a believer schizophrenic far too soon and in the second part the good guy turns into a bad guy, God knows why... and Rameses just won’t negotiate with terrorists. The viewer understands this in the light of contemporary events, doesn’t he? Doesn’t he? Missed opportunities certainly, a bad movie definitely not. Compared to Prince of Egypt, just a little superfluous. (12/27/2014)

A Biblical epic about Moses, in which there is no need to analyze the characters and their relationships, because we all know them well. We should be satisfied with the beautiful epic concept with breathtaking exteriors and nice costumes, and the spectacular depiction of legendary disasters and crossing the ocean should be enough to turn the film into a blockbuster hit. Except that we’re not satisfied and it’s not enough. I am an atheist and biblical events alone are not enough for me. These were supposed to work as the bases for a thorough depiction of the motivation of the characters and the difficulties of the fundamental historical stage of humanity and its political and ethnic problems. Exodus either lacks all of that or gets it over with as quickly as possible. It is a super serious work that is less entertaining than the silly Dracula Untold. (12/28/2014)