Exodus: Gods and Kings

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 two-and-a-half-hour biblical recitation that will surely appeal to the religiously initiated, but fans of complex filmmaking and especially of Ridley Scott will not find a single moment that they would later recite with relish to their atheist friends. Visually, it’s on a high level, which is par for the course with Scott, but with zero narrative drive or a more detailed elaboration of the motivations of the main characters that would have given their relationship and development a much stronger (or rather at least some) emotional insight. In terms of craftsmanship, everything is sort of OK and it's still much better to look at than most of the wannabe cool CGI fantasy crap, but considering the ambition and depth of the story, Exodus is a film surprisingly devoid of soul and creative personality... 60% (09/10/2015)

Definitely better than Darren Aronofsky's Noah, but still, Ridley Scott could have gotten more out of it. Exodus is an epic and visually arresting sensation that is rather empty, cold, emotionless and with an excessive running time, that's what slightly hindered my full experience here. For an hour and a half nothing interesting actually happens apart from Moses' wanderings around the world, this could definitely have been cut down and instead more time spent on the Egyptian plagues, which are over rather quickly, but there can be no fault with them they are perfectly shot, gripping and breathtaking. The final tsunami will literally make your mouth drop, I've never seen anything better. It's amazing how technology is moving forward, it's a pity the pace didn't get more of a push on the throttle, it might have made me melt. Must see on big screen!!! 75% (12/31/2014)

Trying to film a biblical story to have at least some semblance of a logical explanation is nonsense, which Ridley also realized towards the end. What he still hasn't understood is the fact that there's a much better portrayal out there that has been around for decades, and he doesn't even come close to it. Yes, for the modern audience, this is more digestible, but the story itself is good enough, and this shifting towards the action realm doesn't help it in any way. (04/06/2015)

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)