



Exodus: Gods and Kings, a cinematic re-telling of the Moses story. The latter is played by Christian Bale with Joel Edgerton as Rameses, with Ben Kingsley as the lowly slave who tells Moses of his true parentage and of the prophecy that foretold his liberation of the Hebrews from Egyptian rule. From once acclaimed but now increasingly derided director Ridley Scott comes, a cinematic re-telling of the Moses story. The latter is played by Christian Bale with Joel Edgerton as Rameses, with Ben Kingsley as the lowly slave who tells Moses of his true parentage and of the prophecy that foretold his liberation of the Hebrews from Egyptian rule.





The prevailing problem that hangs like a shadow over the entire production is the ethnicity of the leads. It’s rather hard to ignore the fact that whilst everyone around them appears to have stepped out of ancient Egypt, the assembled cast just don’t look the part, regardless of their acting ability and liberal amounts of fake tan (not helped by the ever-slipping accents). While Bale is suitably intense and Aaron Paul works well as a rugged and awe-struck Joshua, the other notable actors (Sigourney Weaver, John Turturro and Ewen Bremner amongst others) just look like well-paid set dressing.









The film is also camp as Christmas, opening with a flamboyantly dressed Turturro as the screeching Pharaoh, only to become brasher and shoutier from then on. However, the sheer scale of the film and the scope of the spectacle mean the brazen acting fits rather well, though I could do without the washed-out colour palette. But if you’re going to go bold, you have to do it properly, and Scott has been rather daring in certain places: Moses himself begins as a sceptic of the Gods (both Egyptian and Hebrew), and God himself is depicted as a petulant child, playing a game with the lives of humanity and throwing the pieces aside when frustrated.





Cleopatra-like scale of the locations has to be matched by a gargantuan running time. Sure, your head might be invested, but the collective bums of the audience have long since given up. But even with over two hours to spare, the development of Rameses and Moses prior to the titular Exodus is almost non-existent, the viewer dropped into the story with the two as adults. Prince of Egypt at least had the brains to show the two as friends, before the rivalry began. Here, we barely get a chance to learn who’s who before the fighting starts. The plague scenes are tremendously entertaining, a glorious CGI-fest of locusts, rivers of blood and pestilent sores. Despite going on for around twenty minutes, it’s actually one of the shorter set pieces. It’s almost as if Scott feels that the-like scale of the locations has to be matched by a gargantuan running time. Sure, your head might be invested, but the collective bums of the audience have long since given up. But even with over two hours to spare, the development of Rameses and Moses prior to the titularis almost non-existent, the viewer dropped into the story with the two as adults.at least had the brains to show the two as friends, before the rivalry began. Here, we barely get a chance to learn who’s who before the fighting starts.





Exodus is another film from Ridley Scott that makes you wonder what happened to the genius behind Blade Runner, Gladiator, Alien, Thelma & Louise, and wonder whether he’ll ever recover. It’s worth noting that Scott has dedicated the film to his late brother Tony, but you can’t help wishing he’d left that for a better production. Whatever else people might say about Tony being the less talented of the two brothers, he never made a film as terrible as The Counsellor.





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