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United Kingdom, Spain, United States · 2014
Rated PG-13 · 2h 30m
Director Ridley Scott
Starring Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Aaron Paul
Genre Action, Adventure, Drama
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This epic adaptation of the biblical Book of Exodus tells the story of Moses, who is raised as the brother of future Pharaoh Ramses until he discovers his true Jewish heritage. Banished to the desert, Moses is commanded by God to return to Egypt and lead his people out of slavery.
This stodgy adaptation creaks with solemnity — not to mention reactionary casting choices — and apart from some nifty frog and locust infestations, even the special effects pale next to a wind-blown Charlton Heston parting the Red Sea.
The Guardian by Catherine Shoard
It is half turkey, half triumph.
This is that rare case where it feels like every choice Scott made was off, and the cumulative impact of all of these choices is one of the most crushing disappointments of the year in terms of who made the film and how little of it works.
Exodus: Gods and Kings is a creaky, sometimes painfully boring Old Testament slog, and finds the visionary director unable to successfully wrangle a human story out of a tale of gods and kings.
Slant Magazine by Eric Henderson
It doesn't take long to realize that Ridley Scott's adaptation is only aiming for certain forms of credibility, and callously eschewing others.
Exodus: Gods and Kings illustrates a typical contradiction of commercial entertainment: By playing it safe, the movie fails to enrich the material, and never captures the energy that has made its narrative so captivating for millennia.
Scott operates on a suitably Biblical scale and grounds the spectacle with rock-solid turns from Bale and Edgerton.
What’s remarkable about Scott’s genuinely imposing Old Testament psychodrama is the degree to which he succeeds in conjuring a mighty and momentous spectacle — one that, for sheer astonishment, rivals any of the lavish visions of ancient times the director has given us — while turning his own skepticism into a potent source of moral and dramatic conflict.
The Telegraph by Robbie Collin
This is bold and uncompromising stuff from Scott; a Biblical epic to shake your faith in the order of things, not reaffirm it.
The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Farber
No movie with such a limp ending can be fully satisfying, and the beginning also falters. But the long middle section is a rousing good show.
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