Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014)
Rated PG-13
Starring Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Kingsley, Aaron Paul
Directed by Ridley Scott
The Story:
This is the story of Moses (Bale) who was raised as a brother with Ramses (Edgerton) to rule Egypt. Soon Moses discovers that he's actually Jewish and is reluctantly thrust into the role of leader and savior in an attempt to free them from bondage.
Well, it was better than Noah!
I think the problem with adapting stories from the Bible is the fear of upsetting anyone.
If it's too religious, people that hate religion won't come see your movie.
If it's too unfaithful, the religious faithful will criticize your movie and call it awful.
Trying to straddle the line and make it appease everyone though simply makes an average film.
That's what we have here.
It looks great, and has all the spectacle that you expect from Ridley Scott, but it skips over the heart of the story.
Moses doesn't speak with God, he argues with a visage of a child.
His brother Aaron, a mere afterthought in the whole tale.
The plagues brought against Egypt, they look amazing.
But they lack the punch of why they are happening.
They simply start happening, one after the other, and Moses takes credit about halfway through that it will only get worse.
: /
To his credit, Scott does capture the torment and heartbreak of a nation that awakens to find the final plague unleashed and it truly feels miserable.
I don't know, it just seems if Scott had been more insistent on connecting the dots in his story, there would have been more oomph to it.
But like I said, you can't please everyone, every time.
And Ridley Scott has made enough good movies already, he gets by with average sometimes.
Final Grade: C
No comments:
Post a Comment