Film Review: Exodus: Gods and Kings

For thousands of years, the Book of Exodus has stood as a awe-inspiring account showing how Moses, united with God's power, liberated the Jews from slavery, and set them on the path to form their own nation. It's always been an inspiring tale of faith, power, and liberation. Plus, the characters have always been compelling archetypes; Moses, much like Maximus in Gladiator, is a man who serves his country, is banished, but comes back with a vengeance. Ramesses, much like Commodus in Gladiator, is a man whose ego is so bloated, he is driven to betray his most loyal followers. Put the two together, and you have a dynamic, intense character-driven conflict, which touches on timeless themes of loyalty, the nature of power, and the nature of faith.

Exodus: Gods and Kings promises an epic, visually-lush retelling of these classic characters and events. It bears something in common with Ridley Scott's earlier work with Gladiator, especially in regards to the characters. However, as it is with Kingdom of Heaven's theatrical cut and 2010's Robin Hood, the experience of Exodus is not always perfect.

The film definitely delivers on the visual front: each scene is laden with beautiful landscapes, highly-detailed sets and props, and lavish visual effects. There is one major battle scene in the beginning, which is fairly satisfying. After a long stretch of slower-paced drama, the ten plagues are shown as a montage of widespread chaos. It's portrayed less as a direct action of God, and more as a chain reaction of nature, with God's oversight; some audiences won't like this depiction, but I personally loved it. The passover scene is appropriately somber. When the exodus finally happens, the famous Red Sea scene offers a fantastic vision of a giant wall of water crashing over the Egyptian army, and it is quite the impressive sight.
Unfortunately, in-between all these exciting scenes, the film slows down drastically to a crawl, wadding through character-driven drama. It makes the pacing really herky-jerky, and if you don't care for the lead characters, then the film will be a total bore.

As it is, I found the characters to be decent enough. I could appreciate the conflict between Moses and Ramesses, which has a lot of push and pull that keeps the plot moving through its projected course. What might make the story iffy, however, is the details and how they compare to the source material. Moses is presented as a man who "wrestles with God," rather than simply doing God's bidding or wielding God's power. God appears as a character, and it's not even clear if He's meant to be taken literally or as a figment of Moses' imagination. God's goal throughout is to upstage everybody else, to humble them. It's in line with the Old Testament view of things, but on-screen, it feels off, because God's relationship with Moses is purposefully strained. Bible literalists will find this movie distasteful, thanks to the unconventional way the characters and events are handled.

Fortunately, the film looks splendid, with fantastic photography and editing. Acting is great: I thoroughly appreciated Christian Bale and Joel Edgerton as the two leads, I loved Maria Valverde, and everybody else is not bad. Writing is pretty bad; most dialogue is blunt, unrefined, and it feels oddly modernized. This production uses spectacular sets, props, costumes, and special effects. The music score is really beautiful too.

Despite the quality of the production, the quality performances, and the visual grandeur, the film has messy pacing and messy content that won't sit well with most viewers. I personally feel that the film has merit, and deviations from the Bible don't bother me that much, but it does feel a little off, and I'd love to see if a director's cut will rectify these problems the way it did with Kingdom of Heaven. As it is, anybody looking for a straight biblical adaptation should stick with Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. Rent this only if you're a fan of historical epics, and you're not too hung up over biblical accuracy.

3.5/5 (Experience: Average | Content: Marginal | Film: Very Good)