During the movie “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” the main character, Moses, faces challenges which seem impossible to overcome. The movie premiered on Dec.12 and had an estimated budget of $140 million, and the budget allowed the movie to have incredible special effects which made the movie more entertaining, but in the end, it did not matter. “Exodus” had all of the right intentions but did not execute all of their ideas to high standards.
The plot of the movie strays from the story of Moses by portraying him as a warrior rather than a messenger. While many might not see this important in the plot, changing his role did make Moses a stronger and more intriguing character. While the movie is based upon a book of the Bible, it lacked solid storytelling during the movie. Until the movie climax, when there were plagues and tsunamis, the movie lacked action and had not captivated my attention.
The movie took place during the ancient Egyptian times and the location was lavishly decorated with workers, pyramids and pharos, all of which added to the exotic excitement to the film, but not enough to make up for the movie’s short comings.
Moses was portrayed by Christian Bale, who did an amazing job playing a character both faithful to and doubting of his beliefs. However other characters never fully developed into the people they could have been. While the actors were very talented, director Ridley Scott did not use the talent to the best of its ability. There were great supporting actors, including Aaron Paul, John Kingsley and Sigourney Weavers, but the characters were not seen as often as they should have been.
Scott did do one thing right by turning an old story that some may know into a modern-day-tale seen by many, but “Exodus: Gods and Kings” deserved more.