Movie Review: Exodus: Gods and Kings

Exodus: Gods and Kings

Twentieth Century Fox, Chernin Entertainment, Scott Free Productions, Babieka, Volcano Films, UK, USA, Spain, 2014.

It is 1300 B.C. and the Hebrews are slaves in Egypt. Moses (Christian Bale) is the best buddy and cousin of future pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton). John Turturro is the old pharaoh Seti. The Egyptians face the army of Hittites. Moses saves life of Ramses. Ramses becomes jealous as Moses is better leader than him.

Moses

Ramses

Seti

Ramses sends Moses to Pithom to suppress rebelling Hebrew slaves. Corrupt Viceroy Hegep (Ben Mendelsohn) wants to slaughter them, but Moses tries negotiating with the Elders. God says that the Hebrews must return to the land of Canaan. Nun (Ben Kingsley) tells that Moses will be the future leader of the Hebrews. Pharaoh Seti dies and Ramses gets the throne. Power-hungry Ramses and his mother Tuya (Sigourney Weaver) become paranoid about Moses and they send Moses to die in desert. 

Nun

Tuya

Moses meets shepherd Jethro (Kevork Malikyan) and marries his daughter Zipporah (María Valverde). Nine years later Moses tries to climb on a forbidden mountain and sees the burning bush and strange boy (Isaac Andrews). Moses gets a mission from God and must return to Egypt to free his people. In Egypt he meets Nun and his son Joshua (Aaron Paul) and begins to train a rebel army. Then God sends ten plagues to torment the Egyptians. God's actions horrify Moses. Finally Moses leads his people to the Promised Land culminating in the epic crossing of the Red Sea.

Zipporah

Joshua

Crossing of the Red Sea

The film looks great. Massive neo-peplum action scenes look impressive. Also the plagues are explained from scientific point of view by Expert (Ewen Bremner) who does not ultimately give satisfying answers to Pharaoh and then the story returns to the mythic territory. However it feels if a lot of film material was left out as some characters just appear and disappear without a clue. Also there are some story build-ups that never come to conclusion, Chekhov's gun has a cork stuck in the barrel. Missed opportunities are Ramses making himself immune to snake poison, Joshua's immunity to pain and so on. Also Aaron (Andrew Target), brother of Moses has very little to do in the story. Many elements of the original biblical story are quickly passed (Ark of Covenant, Ten Commandments), so those who do not know the original story may scratch their heads. 

Overall the film has a good spectacle, with great-looking ancient Egypt but has massive plotholes and some annoying inaccuracies in the script. Versatile Christian Bale makes a transformation from boyish prince to rugged face people's leader.

Older Moses

Rating: Good

Starring: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Ben Mendelsohn, María Valverde, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Isaac Andrews, Hiam Abbass, Indira Varma, Ewen Bremner, Golshifteh Farahani, Ghassan Massoud, Tara Fitzgerald, Dar Salim, Andrew Tarbet, Ken Bones, Philip Arditti, Hal Hewetson, Christopher Sciueref, Emun Elliott, Anton Alexander, Jonathan Rod, Maykol Hernandez, Kevork Malikyan, Aaron Neil, Nicholas Khan, Phil Perez, Jorge Suquet, Giannina Facio-Scott, Abhin Galeya, Anthony Rotsa, Ayoub El Hilali, Alejandro Naranjo, Miguel G. Borda, Anna Savva

Director: Ridley Scott