Exodus: Gods and Kings Review

By walking into this film with an open mind removing all of the critical backlash that it underwent upon release, I actually ended up quite enjoying Exodus: Gods and Kings. What drove me to watch this film in the first place was its spectacle and storytelling elements being presented through the marketing campaign. It's been quite sometime since I've encountered such an epic scaled story like this with the exception of the last two recent Hobbit movies. I saw this as almost a test to see if these monumental, larger than life history inspired stories can still stand up to the likes of today's robot bashing, explosion filled, and superhero blockbusters. I'm happy to say that Exodus: Gods and Kings in my opinion has encouraged me to seek these type of films out even more so now than ever.

Getting into the narrative that's being explored here, the story of Moses is quite the legendary tale and one that has been retold many times onscreen an through other mediums in some form. However, despite having a gallery of retellings in its background, I never felt that this in any way took away from the film's exceptional sense of scale and development of such an iconic figure throughout my viewing. Whether or not I read this biblical story or saw a version of it represented somewhere in the past, I still genuinely felt the weight of the world resting on this character's shoulders as he journeyed through the different paths of his story. I think for any story adaptation (especially one whose source material is popularly known), this is a challenging feat to accomplish which is why I have to give credit where credit is due here. 

Nowadays with today's special FX technology, it's becoming increasingly easier to show off something visually spectacular onscreen even for projects that aren't backed by a hugely established filmmaking studio. But to actually have the audience feel the impact of what's happening onscreen through strong visual storytelling is another beast in of itself. What Exodus does well in comparison to many other blockbuster titles is that it emphasizes on the result of a grand event just as much (if not more) than the event itself. We see these amazing and rather haunting imagery of the plagues taken place, but what gives us a legitimate reason to care about these tragic situations is presenting the horrific repercussions placed upon the people afterwards.

Some of the more powerful moments, aside from the iconic crossing of the Red Sea recreation, are the ones where we witness hundreds of civilians suffering in the aftermath of each life threatening plague. The blood soaked waters filled with dead fish, the invasion and eventual death of countless of frogs, and the smothering wave of flies that follows all effectively brought forward a chilling and overbearing sense of dread. Just the little details of seeing what people have to go through to survive seemingly impossible odds really added on the necessary emotional weight to the actual visuals of the travesties themselves. So to that, again, I have to give major props for the movie not opting to go the easy and uninspiring route which is to focus on a glorified action set piece of plagues just to entertain mass audiences. 

Aside from that, I really enjoyed watching the character of Moses develop and evolve into the figure that he came to be in the end. Throwing in every Batman comparison as I possibly can, it truly did feel at some points as if I was watching the birth of a hero and a symbol of hope manifesting for a people that desperately needed it. This of course would not be the case if it wasn't for the standout performance given by Christian Bale as well as the writing surrounding his character. However, admittedly thinking in retrospect, I would've preferred to see a bit more of Moses in the past before he begins this particular chapter in his journey.

 

We really only get to see a small portion of his life with Ramesses which for me removed a key bit of potentially beneficial development within their relationship that could've greatly service the overall character drama. Yes, the two characters do share some moments together in the beginning of the film and their conflict with each other is established enough. However, showing more examples of their brotherly bond prior would've brought forth more of an emotional spark whenever they encountered each other later on in the story. As for the character of Ramesses himself, Joel Edgerton does a serviceable enough job at bringing this iconic antagonist to life, but I feel as though his character got easily overshadowed and swept under the rug throughout.

It almost feels as if the film attempted to show things from his perspective in order to throw the obvious label of "villain" in a place of questioning for the viewer yet they never backed it up with a strong enough character foundation to work with. Yes, this is the story of Moses and his destined path, but Ramesses does play a significant part in this venture, so it's unfortunate to see a potentially great antagonistic character basically shoved to the side at the end of the day. It also doesn't help that the marketing behind the Exodus: Gods and Kings gave the impression that both Moses and Ramsesses might be given almost equal amounts of screen time and development to flesh them out.

This is a nitpick of mines that can also be stated for Moses' wife and son to a similar degree being that the film does more to imply their significance without really showing enough scenes revolving around them to gain a strong enough emotional investment. There are a couple of great moments of him spending time with his family, but there's also a bit of an empty hole that's formed within the transition between Moses meeting this stranger and eventually falling in love and building a family with her. I immediately started to question whether to not there's an extended version of the film somewhere that shows more scenes of him getting to know her as well as raising his son that would've benefited greatly in the story. That recurring feeling of watching something that's been drastically edited down becomes an undercurrent within the film's runtime. 

Overall, Exodus: Gods and Kings makes an attempt to tackle an enormous story and manages to successfully hit many of the essential elements that it needs to. However, it does miss a few key character components that could've used a bit of an extension along the way. But with that being said, there's no question whatsoever towards the direction in regards to how beautifully cinematic this movie across in parts. The visuals are absolutely stunning and the performances mostly range from serviceable at best to noteworthy making this a pretty easy film to watch through. 

So, looking at the general backlash that has assaulted this film much akin to its biblical plagues, I can't say I feel this movie deserves to be buried as much as it is. It's a great character journey and cinematic venture worth experiencing whether or not it accurately depicts its source material or has some questionable casting choices with its roles. I say it all really depends on what you're specifically expecting out of this film walking into it from a story standpoint and a historical/biblical representation perspective. I myself went into it just to experience its cinematic storytelling as a movie and that's it. So with that context, I'd personally recommend that you just see for yourself by checking it out when you can and judging it on its own merits.

Rating: 9/10