Exodus Gods and Kings: Directed by Ridley Scott, Starring: Christian Bale, and Joel Edgerton.12/14/2014 Two things make up Exodus: Gods and Kings. These two things fight each other during the entire film,and it's obvious which one beat out. The two things are the technical stuff,and the acting and storytelling. Exodus: Gods and Kings is of course the Moses story. Christian Bale is Moses,and Joel Edgerton is Ramses... yeah guys I know there's a lot of controversy on that,but I'm must say while I'm aware that is a problem I am judging the film for what it is. Exodus is a fantastic looking film. The cinematography is spectacular,and the film takes advantage to swoop over the characters. The energy that this brings to the film is actually quite good,and whatever the film can do to benefit itself is a good thing. There are some impressively filmed scenes in the film, mainly the parting of the Red Sea. A lot of people have given credit to the Ten Plagues sequence,and I'll get into those later so trust me the main set piece is the Red Sea. All of the battles (or at least the ones that end up being battles) are nice as well. This is all stuff that Ridley Scott is great at. There are some great scenes of the Hebrew slaves working that are very epic. The desert sequences also are filmed quite well,and that at least brings some color to these sequences. Oh and while we're on the good stuff Christian Bale doesn't mess up as Moses. He doesn't believe at first,and the reluctance builds his character. Not to say he's perfect,but he's not cashing it in. Buuuuuuuuut... and oh boy there's a but. The other half. The story half. The at times bland, uninteresting,but still somewhat coherent half. So the story of the film is not horrible. It really isn't. I had a good time with it still,but there are numerous flaws. First there is the fact that the film seems to be missing something. This reminds me of Scott's own Kingdom of Heaven which was much like this one was a pretty good movie that would be great if only there were a few scenes in there. Kingdom of Heaven got a director's cut that was very well received. That is what Exodus needs. It needs a couple of extra scenes to clear certain story problems. One of these problems comes in the form of sometimes characters address information that the audience did not know about or get a chance to acknowledge. Again why the film seems to missing scenes. Also Gods a kid,and it's odd how he comes off. He seems to assertive,and mean. The Ten Plagues is the best example of this. If you feel bad for the villain than that's not good. I felt bad for Ramses (a somewhat unmemorable, but OK Joel Edgerton) throughout the Ten Plagues part. Don't get me wrong they are portrayed in fantastic fashion, but they come off really mean. Rivers turning to blood, flies tormenting the people of Egypt,and the murder of all the first children. It's all really rough actually. Which is okay in someways. They are visually stunning,and the fact that they are so scary,and effecting is actually helps drive home the horror that they were. However we don't get enough sympathy for the slaves that are working,and building the large structures for the Plagues to actually be as horrible as they are. They just seem to go out a little too much. The action is kind of the opposite. These just don't go all out. There's a moment where a battle is ripe to happen,and it doesn't happen. It's disappointing. However with all of this the film still coheres,and I did enjoy it. I know I criticized it pretty badly,but the film is not horrible. There is some great,and epic parts,yet there are some horrible flaws. I give Exodus: Gods and Kings a 7 out of 10.
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December 2017
CategoriesAuthorHello welcome to FilmAnalyst. My name is Stephen Tronicek, and I really like movies. This is a way to get my opinions out to people. Thank you for visiting. |