EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS

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3 stars
Remaking the four hour epic that is The Ten Commandments was always going to be a big job. First, Ridley Scott had to suck some of the camp out of Cecil B. DeMille's excess (marginally successful) while toning down the more pious elements out of one of mankind's most pious tales (marginally unsuccessful).
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But like a lo-fat diet, take the fun stuff out and you have to put something else in to make it tasty again. And that's where Exodus: Gods And Kings falls short; despite the two and a half hour run time, it feels somewhat empty.

Wisely, Scott doesn't linger too long on setting up the story of Egypt's adopted prince. In fact, we meet Moses (Christian Bale – The Dark Knight Rises) not so long before the death of his faux father Pharaoh Seti (John Tuturro – Fading Gigolo), when all of Egypt is handed to the full-blooded but careless Rameses (Joel Edgerton - Felony). In quick succession, Moses learns he's actually Hebrew, joins the resistance, is exiled from Egypt, gets a bump on the head and meets God beside a bush. The rest, quite accurately, is history.

Exodus: Gods and Kings is a neat bookend to Noah, this year's other Biblical blunderbuss. And in reimagining sacred texts for a multiplex audience, the secular Scott has weathered a fair degree of criticism, not least of which is a white-bread cast (no Middle-Eastern actors in key roles), and his 'scientifically sound' rationale for events like Moses parting the Red Sea (tsunami, it turns out). Such distractions aside, Scott provides many of his own in this 3D extravaganza replete with a Spanish cast of thousands (DeMille would be proud) and some truly attention-grabbing set pieces; re-filling the Red Sea being one of the best.

Yet with all the digital bravado, something is missing from the core of the story and that, surprisingly, given the context, is heart. Exodus: Gods And Kings is an ideological battle between brothers: Moses (and God) vs Rameses (who is a God). This is the kernel that writers Adam Cooper and Bill Collage (Accepted), Jeffrey Caine (The Constant Gardener) and Oscar winning heavyweight import Steve Zaillian (American Gangster) fail to get to grips with. They seem happy to trot from key point to key point as Moses turns, rather unconvincingly, from hard arse general to man of the people, albeit one taking orders from a voice inside his head (neatly represented as a young boy only he can see. It's a nice touch and much more accessible than booming burning bushes of yore).

On balance, Exodus: Gods And Kings is the kind of action adventure we've come to expect from Hollywood. There's a puff of 'true story' to hook you in, enough digital distraction to keep you there and a runtime that promises a meaningful encounter. Like similarly epic blockbusters (Interstellar and Noah spring readily to mind), this is a known quantity, and it is distracting. And like those epics, meaningful it is not, nor does it have anything particularly fresh to say about a timeless story. Sadly, considering the investment of time, talent and money, it fades as quickly as footsteps in the desert.

// COLIN FRASER

Previewed at Events Cinemas, George St, Sydney on December 2, 2014

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STARRING
Christian Bale
Joel Edgerton
John Tuturro
Ben Kingsley

DIRECTOR
Ridley Scott


SCREENWRITER
Steve Zaillian

COUNTRY
USA

CLASSIFICATION
MA15+

RUNTIME
150 minutes

AUSTRALIAN
RELEASE DATE
December 4, 2014
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Exodus: Gods and Kings (2014) on IMDb
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