The story of Moses, the Egyptian prince turned liberator of the Hebrew people and inscriber of God's Ten Commandments, is dramatized in lavish, but ultimately inert fashion by Ridley Scott in Exodus: Gods and Kings. Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton star as Moses and Ramses II, respectively. As the film begins during the waning reign of Seti I (John Turturro), they are adopted brothers with a deep respect for one another, if also a friendly rivalry. After Ramses becomes pharaoh, however, his anxious nature, the conspiring of others, and rumors regarding Moses' potential Hebrew origin combine to send Moses into exile, evading assassins and contending with an unforgiving expanse of desert. He finds a quiet place to live as a farmer, shepherd, and family man, but after a severe injury to the head precipitates godly visions in the form of a child (Isaac Andrews), he is roused to return to the Egyptian capital of Memphis to defy Ramses and free the Hebrews from bondage. This is when the film shifts into the gear most audiences are anticipating. In other words, cue the biblical plagues.

As crafted with characteristic technical pomp and precision by Scott, Exodus: Gods and Kings is a gorgeous and outsize cinematic bauble. The sweeping, vertiginous establishing shots are riveting in their scope and detail, and it is clear no expense was spared in regard to the costumes and sets, from the gilded halls of Egyptian power to the crowded, filthy areas in which the Hebrew slaves are housed amidst flame and debris. Sadly, however, the film almost never comes to life on a dramatic level. An epic such as this should excite and frighten and lift and tantalize the way, for instance, Scott's Gladiator did, its post-Best-Picture-win detractors be damned. Instead, Exodus lumbers and proves downright dispiriting. Even during the ten-to-fifteen-minute montage of plagues in which the rivers run red and locust descend, there is a dutiful sensation rather than an enchanting or menacing one.

Bale is a fantastic actor, but this type of role does not bring out the best in him. His performances as Moses is hard-edged and intense, but without shape or much charisma. He is hard to invest in or grab hold of, and the screenplay's lunges toward humanization (such as the negligibly developed wife and son to whom Moses is presumably devoted) register as perfunctory rather than poignant. Edgerton is slightly superior as Ramses, lacing his portrayal of the covetous and reactionary tyrant with sympathetic moments of self-doubt and genuine love for his family, though he also seems slightly nervous and uncomfortable in the role, as if the absurdity of the eyeliner and the Australian-gone-Egyptian tan are never far from his mind. Still, his scenes cradling the corpse of his firstborn son after the tenth and final plague are the closest the film comes to being truly moving.

Then there is a veritable rogue's gallery of famous faces in wafer-thin roles. Television favorite Aaron Paul has perhaps five lines in the entire film as Joshua, Moses' personality-free second- or third-in-command, and Ben Kingsley is given only slightly more to do as a Hebrew elder dispensing blandly expository dialogue with sacred gravitas. And poor Sigourney Weaver, reuniting with her Alien director without ceremony, is squandered to a criminal degree in what could have developed into a delicious, scene-stealing role as Ramses' scheming and malevolent mother. The borderline criminal under-utilization of these talents indicates there may be another hour or two of Exodus: Gods and Kings collecting dust on the floor near a 20th Century Fox editing suite.

C

The "showdown" between Moses and Ramses during the parting of the Red Sea is so anticlimactic and goofy. In a way, it may be an example of one of the film's chief failings overall: it tries to be this story of brothers turned enemies, but there is zero emotional engagement on this level.

Scott also seems completely disinterested in the golden calf and the Hebrews' misplaced idolatry during Moses' absence. The way he dutifully gestures toward this episode without digging in is abrupt and distracting.

This was so bad

D+

EXODUS GODS AND KINGS

I was somewhat interested in watch this, however, reading some of the comments by Bale and Scott about Moses and the "whitewashing" was a bit of a turnoff but first what I liked. I did love the costumes and production design. It looked like Ancient Egypt. I liked the visual effects and camera shots of the chariots and battle sequences. As for Scott's direction, I'm not one of those who feel he has lost something. I enjoyed Prometheus, but this film lacks passion and emotion. It felt very run of the mill and the whitewashing issue actually did bug me in the end. Edgerton was absolutely miscast. He looked magnificent in the costumes but looking at him was a turnoff and when he spoke I didn't like it. Then we have Weaver playing some woman. She's barely in the film but she too sticks out. They could have brought shohreh aghdashloo for example in that minor role. She at least has an ethnic look required for that populace. Next we have Turturro. He stuck out as well. Just didn't work. Surprisingly, bearded Aaron Paul was acceptable. Finally, Bale actually did work kind of. He's just a better actor who blended into the role much more easily for me than those other folks. The story was a unique take to say the least. God is apparently a figment of his imagination and he made the commandments and most of the pestilences were given some explanation. Another thing was the Egyptian court's scientist. I've seen that actor in other things and he stuck out as well. The final 10 minutes were rushed as well as Moses aged like 30 years during that time span. Very rushy at the end. Interesting how I absolutely loved Noah but found this to be a bore. I think what hurts it most is that we have the classic film The Ten Commandments which it will instantly get compared to and it was destined to fail in that comparison no matter what.

Grade - C

Do not give the film too much credit in regard to being revisionist. While it does briefly flirt with the idea Moses is hallucinating because of a head injury, we are firmly in supernatural-explanations-only territory by the passover sequence.

And, yes, the final ten minutes are absurdly rushed. Without delving into the golden calf or Moses' inability to enter the promised land, everything after the parting of the sea plays as extraneous and confused, as if the film is blindly groping its way to the end credits as fast as it can.

redundant

The whole film is rushed despite being super long. Moses meets God and he's completely changed, Moses and Pharoah's reunion and exile, and the red sea and end are all the most interesting elements giving not a second thought. Moses laughing at the Gods in the beginning should have played more as him being a hypocrite. There is almost no human element to film. Ramses lets them go, and then chases them after looking impatient for a moment.

Everything else is extremely tame by epic scale. The fight scenes are weak (Should have went R), and I actually thought the costumes were terrible (I swear I saw someone wearing a wife beater at one point) The Mummy made Ancient Egypt look much much better 15 years ago. And that dead baby looked ridiculous mummified, and dead looked like Red Cross dummy. The plagues were decently done though.

It should be assumed that Scott got lucky with Gladiator. He should not be the go to guy for historical epics ever again. There's nothing wrong with his direction per say, like with most of his recent films, but almost nothing works here.

It's a shame we never got to see the Spielberg version. Perhaps with Interstellar and this The Beard dodged a couple of bullets.

We might not have seen the Spielberg version, but the trailer made this look like the Spielbergo/Burns version.

This was a disappointing mess of a film. I didn't care for Noah, but I remember that atleast had a more energetic direction and Ray Winstone was a far more engaging villain. There is really nothing entertaining or exciting about this movie though. Joel Edgerton and Christian Bale are great actors, but they boringly go through the motions the whole movie and somehow make Moses and Ramses the least interesting titular characters ever.

It doesn't help that the supporting cast made up of talent such as Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Aaron Paul, Ben Mendelsohn, and even John Turturro are all wasted as they don't have more than two or three scenes in the movie tops.

The only positives I can think of is that the movie looked great on a technical level and the plague scenes were very well done especially the one with the crocodiles.

The easiest and most accurate way to sum up Exodus: Gods & Kings is that it is visually stunning, but dramatically inert. Despite all of director Ridley Scott's efforts to present a handsome-looking epic - at which he succeeds marvelously - it's a boring experience that leaves little of value beyond its visual aesthetic. Paradoxically, it feels like a great deal of material has been lopped off in order to bring the movie down to a still-excessive 150-minute running time, and as such, the character motivations and relationships feel consistently underdeveloped. One gets the sense that the brotherly relationship between Moses and Rameses is supposed to serve as the emotional backbone of the film, but there's just not a whole lot there; they get swords with one another's symbols on them, there are some cursory mentions of how they grew up with one another, and that's about it. It also really doesn't help matters that miscasting abounds across the board. Christian Bale is typically one of the most fiercely committed actors in the business, but he never seems to connect with Moses anywhere near as closely as he does with other roles; rather, it seems as though he is simply going through the motions. Joel Edgerton turns in a villainous performance that is so over-the-top that it makes his work as Tom Buchannan in The Great Gatsby look subtle by comparison (and it's really a shame if he's going to be typecast as a villain after his terrific work as the likable protagonist in 2011's Warrior). No one else in the cast leaves much of an impression, which is somewhat alarming considering that several of them have been very good in previous roles. In order to make a mark while standing in the shadow of a film as big and beloved as The Ten Commandments, Exodus needed to break the mold and do something daring, but it's so perfunctory and takes so few risks (at least beyond the strange decision to have a ten-year-old boy embody God) that it's bound to be forgotten in short order.

C

I'm a sucker for these types of movies and while I wasn't emotionally invested in the slightest, I did enjoy it all the way through. Ridley Scott really knows how to make movies look good.

This wasnt even nearly as bad as reviews made it out to be.

Exodus: Gods and Kings

It helped that I had low expectations, but I enjoyed Exodus: Gods and Kings. It has a terrific cast in Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Ben Mendelsohn, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, and to my surprise Aaron Paul isn't bad either. Oh, and Ewan Bremner is in this!! Awesome. I just love these Biblical epics. It's as interesting and spectacular as Noah was a year ago. Bale gives a great performance. I am really surprised that I liked it. It's probably Ridley Scott's best film since Gladiator. Certainly better than Kingdom of Heaven (which was fucking awful). It's always great when a historical epic has some elements that are familiar to its audience. It also didn't seem fake like most other historical epics do these days, and this also took its time, and really developed the story. I love how it mixed Egyptian history with Biblical history. I kind of know not much about this area. I know a few things such as the burning bush, Moses leading Hebrew race etc., so it was good to get this lesson in contextualising these events.

I can firmly say that I enjoyed it. There is more to say but it's late. I'm tired. I might grade it higher on repeat viewings, but for now...

B+

You should check out The Prince of Egypt.