Exodus: Gods and Kings

This movie was rather disappointing as far as I am concerned. The original story has been rewritten rather drastically. This in itself do not bother me too much. I am not one of those fanatics that get a fart stuck the wrong way if someone messes with the holy bible. However, I really do not think this was a good rewrite. A lot of the magical moments had been removed and that took away a lot from the story. The movie starts off good enough with some nice and fairly impressive battles. Then it slows down a lot and sometimes I got a “get on with it damn it” feeling. When we finally got around to the burning bush part I got rather underwhelmed. God as a vengeful kid? Come on! The disasters and the special effects are not too shabby but the entire bit where Moses confronted Ramses and warned him about the disasters that where to befall Egypt are taken out. They where just thrown on Egypt one after another in ways that could be explained away as natural disasters. From one point of view I can understand the wish to do this but to me it took something away from the movie. Later when Ramses decides to go after the Hebrews it continues in the same way with Ridley Scott downplaying the magic in the story. There is no pillar of fire and Moses is not holding out his staff to split the see. The sea just decided to recede and Moses takes advantage of it. Sure the effects when the water returns where quite cool but again, the magic was gone. Technically the movie is quite well done and the acting is quite okay but the biblical grandeur and mythical aspects are no longer there. This grand adventure story is simply reduced to an ordinary, fairly mediocre adventure movie with a high budget. I have to say that I enjoyed Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments more even though the special effects in that one is hopelessly outdated and the acting is a bit awkward.