Exodus: Gods and Kings—Movie Review

by Peter J. O'Connell

Exodus: Gods and Kings. Released: Dec. 12, 2014. Running time: 150 mins. Rated: PG 13 for violence, including battle sequences and intense images

Exodus: Gods and Kings, director Ridley Scott's version of the book of the Bible that recounts Moses' leadership of the Hebrews out of bondage in Egypt, is a motion picture that has much to offer its viewers. Primarily what it has to offer is, in fact, motion and pictures. There are spectacular scenes of battles and chariot chases and gasp-inducing visualizations of the plagues afflicting Egypt and the events at the Red Sea. All this is rendered with a masterful mixture of both CGI (computer-generated imagery) and traditional “cast of thousands” effects.

When it comes to development of the famous characters and story line, however, wonderment must yield to disappointment and, in fact, at times outright bafflement. The leads, Christian Bale as Moses and Joel Edgerton as the Pharaoh Ramses, are both British (OK, Edgerton is Australian), and both look it here. This is not necessarily a drawback. Acting style can overcome such factors. After all, Charlton Heston as Moses in Cecil B. DeMille's 1956 classic The Ten Commandments did not look particularly Hebraic, but he did have a commanding presence. Neither Bale nor Edgerton has much of such a presence here, though both have done estimable work in other films in the past. However, the choice to cast Bale and Edgerton does reduce the impact of the powerful story as story.

Moreover, Scott and his writers have eliminated many of the most dramatic parts of the traditional account. We do not get to see the rescue of Moses as a baby from the pogrom to which the Hebrews were being subjected. We do not see the early phases of the relationship between Moses and Ramses. We do not see Moses making his repeated pleas to Pharaoh to “let my people go.” We do not see the Passover ritual. And the whole golden calf business is nowhere to be found in the film.

Many religious folks may find that Scott's efforts—he is on record as an anticlerical agnostic—to provide a naturalistic explanation for the plagues and the events at the Red Sea—much as a cable TV channel on history might do—diminish the whole point of the Biblical account. For example, the parting of the Red Sea and the subsequent destruction of Pharaoh's army appear to be caused, not so much by God's “mighty hand,” as Heston iconically exclaimed, but by waterspouts and a sort of tsunami.

The film's most reduced part of the Biblical Exodus narrative, however, and the most egregious miscasting, involves the most important character—God. Scott has chosen to image God as a petulant, 11-year-old, very British-looking boy. Viewers, religious or otherwise, can only say, “Wha . . . ?” at this choice or, maybe, “WHA . . . ?” And the recording of the Ten Commandments themselves, only briefly and undramatically depicted, does not involve—given this image of God, could not involve—carving in stone by a mighty, lightning-like, divine finger but just some work by Moses with a stylus.

So, see Exodus: Gods and Kings for what it has, visual wonders, but be prepared for what it lacks—a soul.