Exodus: Gods and Kings

IMDB
First time viewed: Yes
Current Release: Yes
Watched With: Tyler, Kate, Andrew

Do you know the story of Moses? Have you ever seen The 10 Commandments? Or even Prince of Egypt? Well this is that but it cost more.

You really have to question why this was made. Love it or hate it, at least Noah tried to interpret the bible story in an interesting way, fleshing out characters and adding to the drama. And some really crazy visual ideas. Ridley Scott's bible epic has great visuals, as you'd expect. And shooting it natively in 3D is pretty stunning. But there is nothing really new or interesting about the telling here. It is the most straightforward and common version I can imagine being made today. When I left the cinema, all I could think of was, "yep, that was the Exodus story I remember."

They don't add anything to these characters. These great, although perhaps distractingly miscast, actors all do what they can but there's nothing really here for them to flesh out. The visual ideas they do interpret, like depicting the word of God, the Nile flowing red, the passover or the parting of the Red Sea, they were done in very simple ways. The rest of the story was done very literally.

As usual, technically it's a marvel. Great score, amazing cinematography, a lot of VFX. So many frogs. As I said before, the 3D is great. In the battle scenes the shots are held one or two beats of action more than we're used to seeing today so the 3D isn't jarring. Obviously it's been well thought out. I just wish they thought about a more exciting way to tell this story.

There's is one small line Moses says to Jesse from Breaking Bad after the Red Sea incident that can be read into a lot and was probably the only interesting idea the film brought up but as soon as it's uttered it's forgotten about and not really dealt with in any way.

If you don't know the story, or really love it, this is a great way to see it told on the big screen. But don't expect any interesting ideas or in depth characters here. This is the safest film they could have possibly made.