TITLE: Exodus: Gods and Kings
DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott
WRITERS: Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Jeffrey Caine, Steven Zaillian
Perhaps less controversial than
Noah released earlier in the year but still managing to cause some fuss, partly due to continuing the Hollywood tradition of casting largely caucasian actors in Biblical roles. But had that been the only flaw, one would not have particularly minded, had it been in the tradition of Biblical epics in other aspects. If
Noah was something of a diverging text that was not made purely for Christian audiences, one can detect something of what kind of worldview is behind this latter offering from the opening text telling us that it is set in such-and-such-a-year B.C.
E. There is also something to be said of the portrayal of God, manifested as a petulant boy (recalling Juilette Caton's Satan-as-guardian-angel in
The Last Temptation Of Christ, 1988) who makes tea, gets cross and - in the words some people might use - is a bit of a little shit. Also, the film - or rather Ramses (Joel Edgerton) brings up, perhaps understandably, the ethics of a God who would sanction mass infanticide. It is possible to suggest that in this film, Ramses comes out of it pretty well.
As with Scott's
Robin Hood (2010), there is something of an "early film" approach with expository text setting up the background to the story mixed with slo-mo footage of Egyptian slavery presented in 3D that does, admittedly, bring some resonance for someone who was raised in a religion in which this was a key story. It is not only here that the 3D does prove rather effective - there is also quite a few shots of flying birds that helps creates some depth in some impressive photography. There is also some pretty terrific location footage.
As suggested earlier, had this been a traditional, albeit whitewashed, Hollywood Biblical epic, it might have proved satisfactory but until roughly the half-way point, it would not pass muster as Sunday afternoon television. Things shift a bit from the moment Moses (Christian Bale not having much of a commanding presence in his role of protagonist and using some kind of accent) is knocked out and meets God and sees a burning bush while - for some reason - being buried up to his face and not being asked to remove his sandals. It goes a little bit
Last Temptation-y when a post-bush Moses returns to Egypt and chooses the bow (whereas Willam DeFoe's Jesus had an axe) and trains a bunch of Merry Men. The "fun" really starts when the Plagues are occuring with a rather Nolan-esque twist (the sea turning to blood is caused by crocodiles massacring each other) and Ewen Bremner is brought in as an "Expert" to explain the science behind the apparent supernatural (during this sequence, Scott makes some choice editing with some comic hanging). The red sea sequence is also re-envisioned so the waves no longer pass with a narrow path to cross but rather it dries out almost altogether before the waters return for a Moses/Ramses face-off. What else impresses about this sequence is a collapsing cliffedge which sees a lot of Ramses' soldiers and their chariots fall victim to a thin road (this film is also unkind to horses).
It's a near acceptable half that shows what potential this film had, but if I wanted "heresy", give me Aronofsky's
Noah, as exhausting as it is.
