Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings pits brother against brother, race against race, and mankind against God. But this telling of the tale may not please those who have a need for a “pure” telling of the Bible tale. The cinematography of the film has all of the grandeur of biblical epics of the Fifties, which shows the power of well mastered Digital HD movie, but it is not morally clear-cut as those great films were. Scott gives these Old Testament charters depth of strength and weakness to match the amount of sand in the desert.
This telling of the story is more about two brothers and their relationship as they growth in strength and in power. For those who did not go to Sunday school, Egyptian Princes Moses (Christian Bale) and Ramses (Joel Edgerton) are raised together as brothers. When Ramses becomes pharaoh he makes Moses his most-trusted adviser. But in time Moses discovers his Jewish roots which causes him and Ramses to lose their bromance, so the Pharaoh sends him to the desert to die.
The film opens with a caption that locates the story in “1300 B.C.E.” (the secular Before the Common Era) rather than the expected B.C (Before Christ). If Scott’s telling of the tale from a less ( or in some cases) a non religious view challenges your faith or values, then this film is not for you. But if you can either put that aside or if it doesn’t hit a hot point for you, then are set for a fun, but at times bumpy, chariot ride.
There was one more controversy with this film – the lead actors’ whiteness. To be blunt the director of photography Dariusz Wolski bathes the entire cast in grey-gold light, making the casting controversy more about Hollywood hiring practices than interfering with the story telling.
When it comes to casting, Bales’s performance is very solid but Edgerton gets the juicier role and milks for all he can. Heck in an early scene he’s milking cobras topless. He is more than just a bad guy. He uses the jealousy of Moses, who is the clear favorite of Seti (John Turturro) to give a performance with depth and nuance.
Sadly at times, I think I was watching a retread of “Gladiator.” Moses even leads the Jews in military revolt before God intervenes and issues the Ten Plagues upon Egypt. Plus these events make the the miracles of the Bible appear as natural phenomenon triggered by God. Which fits the tone Scott set for the film, but may upset some viewers.
In the film, God is portrayed as a little boy. He first appears standing in front of the burning bush and appears at recurring points in the film. So Moses is seen arguing with a child
Now the tone of the film can be very depressing. Nowhere do hear the singing of Jews celebrating their freedom as in the song of Miriam. But we shouldn’t! This more about of tale of two brother who go to war with each other and end up on opposite sides of the Red Sea than the Sunday school story.
Now dark and depressing may be viewed as the trademark of Ridley Scott’s work by the causal viewer. But when you view his work more that once, you see a director who paints a world in a range color, than just black and white. This why this movie is worth owning and watch over again, even if you may have a different start point with this Epic tale than Mr. Scott has.
Digital HD Bonuses
The Film is out now on Digital HD. Digital HD automatically stores your movies in Cloud so you can access them anytime, anywhere on devices ranging from tablets, smartphones, computer, smart TVs and gaming consoles.
Exodus is following a trend which is making buying the Digital HD great for the serious movie buffs, you get the extras that us to only come on Blu-ray. So now you can watch it early and still get all the goodies the film buff “needs”
The extras include some enjoyable features such as a look at Moses as the legendary lawmaker. The deleted scenes for this movie are a must watching, even for non film buffs. The enhancement pods gives the viewer over 45 minutes of vignettes of “behind the scenes” snippets that are fairly interesting.
Details
On March 17th the film will be out on Blu-ray and DVD.
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Mild Sex/Nudity and Strong Violence)
Genre: Action/Adventure
Running Time: 142 minutes
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox
Cast and Crew
| Featuring: | Christian Bale … Moses Joel Edgerton … Rhamses Aaron Paul … Joshua Sigourney Weaver … Tuya Ben Kingsley … Nun Indira Varma … Miriam John Turturro … Seti more » |
| Director: | Ridley Scott— “Kingdom of Heaven” (2005), “American Gangster” (2007), “Body of Lies” (2008), “Prometheus” (2012) |
