For some inexplicable reason 2014 was awash with religious tinged cinema . We had that one where Kevin Sorbo played a parody of an anti-theist , another film that ripped off Christians by being nothing more than a History Channel mini-series edited together in to a feature film , NOAH which while being very entertaining seemed to upset a lot of people because it wasn't based on the true story of the Bible . I think they meant that snakes didn't talk therefore there's no way it could have been true . And the very end of the year Ridley Scott jumped on if not the band wagon then at least a very fast chariot and brought us EXODUS which was something of a flop critically and commercially
Now Ridley Scott is something of a curious case . He's someone who is a perfectionist who wants to get everything right but by doing so he can't see the trees for the woods . His films are good but I don't think he's made a film that exalts him in to legendary status . There's another aspect and for many years now he's closely associated with making historical epics . It's nor Mr Scott's fault and probably it's the studio system to blame , after all if they want a movie set in New York then they'll make Scorsese an offer he can't refuse and so it's the same with Ridley . It does show a lack of imagination by everyone involved but I did enjoy PROMETHEUS for the most part so decided to catch this one
I can't remember much of the biblical story of Moses but did notice much of EXODUS resembles GLADIATOR . There's a massive battle where Egyptian general Moses saves the life of Ramses the Pharoah in waiting and soon this respect for one another soon gives way to animosity because the story requires it similar to Maximus and the Emperor in GLADIATOR and while being reminded of that film I was also constantly reminded of the director's KINGDOM OF HEAVEN from about ten years ago . To give Scott his due the production values were good and all the money is up there on screen and the performances are never jarring with Australian actors Joel Edgerton and Ben Mendelsohn being the pick of the impressive cast
What let's this film down however is that there's several screenwriters . One must be an anti-theist , one an agnostic , one being a happy clappy vicar and one must be Pat Robertson hiding behind a pen name . I really can not communicate in words how utterly inconsistent the narrative is here . At least with NOAH it wore its heart on its sleeve that it was a Paganistic environmentalist fantasy and not an out and out Biblical story much of the story in EXODUS leaves an ambiguous interpretation that Moses is deluded and isn't in contact with God but this seems contradicted by other scenes where God does exist . For example it makes a very intelligent scientific argument that the catastrophes that fall upon the Egyptians are simply caused by nature which I found fascinating that blows away Biblical myth but again the story starts contradicting itself in that certain events could only have happened by the intervention of a supreme being controlling all the laws of physics . There's even a scene where Ramses proclaims "Your God kills children" which is fair comment but remember Ramses is the bad guy and Moses the good guy and I doubt if we're supposed to be taking the side of Ramses in anything . It seems unlikely any moral ambiguity is meant here and everything is shrouded in confusion . There's several scenes where the Hebrews train at fighting while being slaves of the Egyptians and considering Ramses has been using spies throughout the movie up till this point no one seems to have noticed this guerrilla army in training . You really do get the impression the screenwriters have written their own vision of the story and the producers have for some reason kept everyone involved in the process happy by refusing to delete any internal contradiction in the screenplay
I'll be the first to admit I'm very biased when watching films featuring religion . If it's propaganda I'll review it as propaganda but I don't doubt the Bible has some good stories - but that's all they are , fictional stories similar to Aesop's fables from Greek myth . Something like EXODUS I will watch simply as a film fan who wants to be entertained and to be fair EXODUS is moderately entertaining but by trying to appeal to to atheists , agnostics and Christians it's the sort of film that will appeal to no one simply because it has a badly written screenplay trying to take all sides
Now Ridley Scott is something of a curious case . He's someone who is a perfectionist who wants to get everything right but by doing so he can't see the trees for the woods . His films are good but I don't think he's made a film that exalts him in to legendary status . There's another aspect and for many years now he's closely associated with making historical epics . It's nor Mr Scott's fault and probably it's the studio system to blame , after all if they want a movie set in New York then they'll make Scorsese an offer he can't refuse and so it's the same with Ridley . It does show a lack of imagination by everyone involved but I did enjoy PROMETHEUS for the most part so decided to catch this one
I can't remember much of the biblical story of Moses but did notice much of EXODUS resembles GLADIATOR . There's a massive battle where Egyptian general Moses saves the life of Ramses the Pharoah in waiting and soon this respect for one another soon gives way to animosity because the story requires it similar to Maximus and the Emperor in GLADIATOR and while being reminded of that film I was also constantly reminded of the director's KINGDOM OF HEAVEN from about ten years ago . To give Scott his due the production values were good and all the money is up there on screen and the performances are never jarring with Australian actors Joel Edgerton and Ben Mendelsohn being the pick of the impressive cast
What let's this film down however is that there's several screenwriters . One must be an anti-theist , one an agnostic , one being a happy clappy vicar and one must be Pat Robertson hiding behind a pen name . I really can not communicate in words how utterly inconsistent the narrative is here . At least with NOAH it wore its heart on its sleeve that it was a Paganistic environmentalist fantasy and not an out and out Biblical story much of the story in EXODUS leaves an ambiguous interpretation that Moses is deluded and isn't in contact with God but this seems contradicted by other scenes where God does exist . For example it makes a very intelligent scientific argument that the catastrophes that fall upon the Egyptians are simply caused by nature which I found fascinating that blows away Biblical myth but again the story starts contradicting itself in that certain events could only have happened by the intervention of a supreme being controlling all the laws of physics . There's even a scene where Ramses proclaims "Your God kills children" which is fair comment but remember Ramses is the bad guy and Moses the good guy and I doubt if we're supposed to be taking the side of Ramses in anything . It seems unlikely any moral ambiguity is meant here and everything is shrouded in confusion . There's several scenes where the Hebrews train at fighting while being slaves of the Egyptians and considering Ramses has been using spies throughout the movie up till this point no one seems to have noticed this guerrilla army in training . You really do get the impression the screenwriters have written their own vision of the story and the producers have for some reason kept everyone involved in the process happy by refusing to delete any internal contradiction in the screenplay
I'll be the first to admit I'm very biased when watching films featuring religion . If it's propaganda I'll review it as propaganda but I don't doubt the Bible has some good stories - but that's all they are , fictional stories similar to Aesop's fables from Greek myth . Something like EXODUS I will watch simply as a film fan who wants to be entertained and to be fair EXODUS is moderately entertaining but by trying to appeal to to atheists , agnostics and Christians it's the sort of film that will appeal to no one simply because it has a badly written screenplay trying to take all sides