Director: Ridley Scott Starring: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton Writers: Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Jeffrey Caine, Steven Zaillian | 3/5 Exodus: Gods and Kings Much to my dismay, I saw Ridley Scott’s latest swords-and-sandals epic Exodus with a bunch of folks who came only to count the ways the film steers from the source material. This, in my opinion, is obviously not the right mindset to enter the movie with. On a purely aesthetic level (except for that overwrought score, yeesh), this is one of the more impressive movies of the year - like Interstellar, 2014’s other tale of exodus. Unlike Interstellar, Exodus lacks an intimate portrait of humanity, something that the actual book of ‘Exodus’ has plenty of. Scott’s retelling does not begin with the baby in a basket. Instead, his film opens with a large-scale Hittite battle. This decision sets the tone and direction for the whole movie. This is going to be a spectacle for the eyes, not the heart, brain, or soul. As you would expect, the plagues make for some truly menacing eye candy, from the Angel of Death to the crocodiles… Yeah, I do not remember killer crocs being the first plague. Sadly, this is only Scott’s second most questionable alteration. The biggest change, and the one that is most likely to get all your favorite Fox News professionals hollering, is the movie’s depiction of God not as a disembodied voice, but a young boy, no older than ten. The idea of God as a child is creative in theory, but problematic in practice. God and Moses (Christian Bale) spend too much time bickering back and forth in the movie, yelling at one another and such. Personally, I do not mind if a director alters the story a little bit, as long as the messages and themes of the story remain intact; however, the God of the Old Testament spends little time arguing with humans. Aside: It may be worth noting the script has the boy named as "Messenger." End of Aside. |
Exodus may be ambitious, but is also wildly uneven. Performances range from fully committed (Bale) to cartoonish (John Turturro’s Pharaoh). Ramses (Joel Edgerton), playing the Moses’-childhood-bff/brother angle once again, feels more peevish than menacing. Edgerton’s guy-liner makes more of a statement than his actual character ever does.
Only two characters remain mainstays throughout the film. The rest of the cast is handled with what can only be described as downright clumsiness. Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul plays Joshua; and though Joshua does not become a bigger character until later in the story, Paul and the material he is given here make such a small impression that he becomes little more than another bearded extra. Ben Kingsley and Ben Mendelsohn both come along for the ride, but the biggest casting disaster of all comes in the form of Ramses’ mother Tuya, played by Scott-mainstay Sigourney Weaver. Weaver, a fierce actress, shows up for all of two scenes to spit hatred at Moses and then disappears altogether, never to be seen or heard of again. This poorly-developed supporting cast just may be the eleventh plague. Hey, if Scott can add the crocodile plague, what’s stopping me?
Going hand-in-hand with the directionless supporting cast is the clumsy script, which took four screenwriters to complete. The dialogue is so casually ludicrous. At one point, Aaron tells his son, “Meet your famous Uncle Moses,” as if this was an introduction at the family bbq. It also does not help that accents vary from actor to actor - and there’s the fact that most of them are clearly non-eastern white dudes. I think it would have been interesting to see Exodus as a foreign language film with subtitles, going for the full Mel Gibson treatment. Doing so maybe would have pushed the writers into giving the characters more believable dialogue.
The tale of Moses is so extensive that it is unlikely that any film will ever do it justice, despite it being probably the most cinema-ready story in the Old Testament. Scott’s film climaxes with the crossing of the Red Sea - another one of the movie’s visual wonders. But even with an early stopping point, many scenes still feel like nothing more than signposts. This checklist mentality is at its worst in the movie’s fumbled ending. Scott should have committed and ended the story at the Red Sea, but he tacks on two or three short scenes of big story markers: the golden calf, the Ten Commandments, etc. The abbreviated manner in which these huge points are covered drain the events of all meaning and significance, making you wish they were not even there.
Despite this load of problems, Exodus still manages to awe and dazzle. That much is undeniable. It certainly is better than the director's 2013 fail The Counselor. Anyone still remember that movie? I try to forget it daily. You want to see 2014’s best Bible-based film? See Noah. You want to see 2014’s best exodus-themed film? Try Interstellar on for size. Are you altogether tired of seeing the spawn of Hollywood and ‘The Bible’? If so, then stop paying to go see these movies. Only then will they stop making them.
Only two characters remain mainstays throughout the film. The rest of the cast is handled with what can only be described as downright clumsiness. Breaking Bad’s Aaron Paul plays Joshua; and though Joshua does not become a bigger character until later in the story, Paul and the material he is given here make such a small impression that he becomes little more than another bearded extra. Ben Kingsley and Ben Mendelsohn both come along for the ride, but the biggest casting disaster of all comes in the form of Ramses’ mother Tuya, played by Scott-mainstay Sigourney Weaver. Weaver, a fierce actress, shows up for all of two scenes to spit hatred at Moses and then disappears altogether, never to be seen or heard of again. This poorly-developed supporting cast just may be the eleventh plague. Hey, if Scott can add the crocodile plague, what’s stopping me?
Going hand-in-hand with the directionless supporting cast is the clumsy script, which took four screenwriters to complete. The dialogue is so casually ludicrous. At one point, Aaron tells his son, “Meet your famous Uncle Moses,” as if this was an introduction at the family bbq. It also does not help that accents vary from actor to actor - and there’s the fact that most of them are clearly non-eastern white dudes. I think it would have been interesting to see Exodus as a foreign language film with subtitles, going for the full Mel Gibson treatment. Doing so maybe would have pushed the writers into giving the characters more believable dialogue.
The tale of Moses is so extensive that it is unlikely that any film will ever do it justice, despite it being probably the most cinema-ready story in the Old Testament. Scott’s film climaxes with the crossing of the Red Sea - another one of the movie’s visual wonders. But even with an early stopping point, many scenes still feel like nothing more than signposts. This checklist mentality is at its worst in the movie’s fumbled ending. Scott should have committed and ended the story at the Red Sea, but he tacks on two or three short scenes of big story markers: the golden calf, the Ten Commandments, etc. The abbreviated manner in which these huge points are covered drain the events of all meaning and significance, making you wish they were not even there.
Despite this load of problems, Exodus still manages to awe and dazzle. That much is undeniable. It certainly is better than the director's 2013 fail The Counselor. Anyone still remember that movie? I try to forget it daily. You want to see 2014’s best Bible-based film? See Noah. You want to see 2014’s best exodus-themed film? Try Interstellar on for size. Are you altogether tired of seeing the spawn of Hollywood and ‘The Bible’? If so, then stop paying to go see these movies. Only then will they stop making them.