By Brett Blake Director Ridley Scott returns to the historical epic genre with EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS, and the word “epic” is certainly an apt one. The film is huge in scope, refreshingly old-fashioned in its filmmaking philosophy, and surprisingly thoughtful in its handling of the central characters and story. Said story is one of the most well-known on the planet. Moses (Christian Bale) is raised as a prince of Egypt, along with his brother-in-all-but-blood, Ramses (Joel Edgerton), until Moses uncovers his true lineage as a Hebrew and, through directives from God, sets out to free the Hebrew slaves which have been oppressed by the Egyptians for centuries. Exilements, burning bushes, plagues, and astonishing feats of aquatic power are all featured along the way as Moses fights to lead his people to freedom. EXODUS is a gigantic movie, the kind of film where people say “all the money is up on the screen.” The production design is simply extraordinary, with large, built-for-real sets and a period authenticity that is palpable. Equally impressive are the costumes, which convey so much about the vast differences between the Hebrew and Egyptian cultures in the film. The cinematography is terrific, too, capturing painterly vistas and skies (always full of interesting moods, never just clear or cloudy) with a crispness that works in a surprisingly effective way. It’s a gorgeous-looking film of gigantic scale, with crowd and battle scenes populated by thousands of real extras, animals, chariots, and other assorted props. The film spends ample time on the key moments of the story, displaying the fabled plagues, for example, in loving and horrific detail, and climaxing with a visually-stunning interpretation of the parting of the Red Sea. In that sense, the movie is every bit a fitting successor to the Biblical classics that were made during Hollywood’s golden era, not the least of which would be 1956’s THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, a masterpiece which also tackled the story of Moses. EXODUS never rises to that film’s iconic level, nor does it have the ultra-glossy, magical sheen of that version, but it’s a fine spiritual update for contemporary audiences. As Moses, Christian Bale delivers the goods, albeit in exactly the way you might expect him to. His is a brooding Moses, a man conflicted and concerned about the suffering endured by both the Hebrew slaves and the Egyptians upon which the plagues are sent. It’s a commanding performance, though also fundamentally human, with Bale and the screenplay taking great pains to explore the character’s state of mind. Bale makes no controversial choices, and does nothing that we haven’t seen from him before, but there’s a reason he’s one of his generation’s best actors: he brings commitment to every role he takes, and Moses is no exception. It’s fine, fine work. Joel Edgerton’s Ramses is the other central figure in this story, and Edgerton gives the movie’s most interesting performance. He makes some fascinating character choices that border on camp, what with Ramses spending the second half of the film glowering and generally being petulant, but Edgerton (at least for my money) keeps tight hold of the reins. The result is a very entertaining performance that is both big and nuanced, and I thought it was great, but I can certainly see it not working for everybody. The supporting cast is - more or less - kind of forgettable, honestly, even though there are some fine actors in the mix. Ben Kingsley plays the sort of wise old sage part he could handle in his sleep, while the likes of John Turturro and Sigourney Weaver show up and feel kind of massively miscast; there’s not much of them in the film, however, so it’s not a huge deal. Aaron Paul does a fine, stoic job as Joshua, but he’s given little to sink his teeth into (one gets the sense he had some scenes left on the floor of the editing room). Maria Valverde makes a strong impression as Moses’ wife, Zipporah, though that may have more to do with her being incredibly beautiful than it does with the character having big, memorable moments to play. Now, the key question remaining is this: in a world that has seen many versions of the Moses story (on both the big and small screens), does EXODUS truly justify its existence? The answer to that question is, basically, not really. There is nothing in here that we truly have never seen before, and it checks all the boxes we expect to be checked in a telling of the story of Exodus. It’s a movie nobody was really asking for, presenting a story everybody knows. None of that bothers me, as I like seeing new interpretations of oft-told stories, but if a person is going into EXODUS purely for a radically different “take” on the tale, said person will likely come out with a “been there, done that” feeling. Fair warning. However, if you’re more of the sort to keep an open mind and to luxuriate in classy, grand-in-scope cinema, there’s a ton in the film to enjoy. I’d like to take a moment just to say a few words about director Ridley Scott. Frankly, I think the view of his recent work that has been taken by most film critics is unfair; there’s a pervasive perception out there that he’s washed up, that he hasn’t delivered a great film in (at least) a decade, and that even on his best day, all he can muster anymore is empty, garish spectacle. At the risk of slaughtering what could be viewed as a self-made straw man, I think that perspective is absolute nonsense. It is certainly true that his most recent films (2010’s ROBIN HOOD, 2012’s PROMETHEUS, and 2013’s THE COUNSELOR) are all - in one way or another - flawed, and it is also certainly true that his last unequivocally “great” film came nearly a decade ago with 2005’s KINGDOM OF HEAVEN (and it really took Scott’s “Director’s Cut” version of that film getting a home video release for people to see that movie for the masterpiece it is). All that being said, I’m of the opinion that he hasn’t directed an outright bad movie since the 1990s, and that nobody has the same kind of interesting visual technique that he does when he's fully engaged. For that reason, even his lesser films have worth in a cinematic climate populated all too often by bland, “journeyman” directors without any kind of strong personal or artistic vision. Is EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS one of those “lesser” Ridley Scott films? In the final analysis, it probably is, but for those so inclined, it is also a very solid piece of entertainment that delivers on a big-scale cinematic level.
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