Exodus: Gods and Kings [DVD] [2014]

The following review comes from both secular and a relgious point of view.Please bear with me.As a child I read the bible. I went to catholic school and did my first communion. In my home we prayed before every meal and avidly spoke about the bible and its teachings and at night we read from the good book. My dad for many years was a missionary in Mexico and in Africa. We sang in the church choir and generally where very involved in all things related to our faith.The issue with me is that even while my involvement in the faith was steadfast, I had questions, and many tales are not made clear. Dates and times of events are as ambiguous as our God.As an adult I grew tired of the age old answer to all our questions: "You have to have faith."I am skeptic enough now, as an adult that I shun that answer; however the teachings are rock solid. The tales (although science will tell us otherwise) are wise, the parables make sense, especially in today’s world.All this being said, I understand that NO religious movie would ever satiate the whole of the religious body. There are simply too many variables. Some are more fanatical than others, some are less, some take the words of the bible as doctrine and not stories, some see the stories as just that, and not a way of life. There is simply no denying that one cannot make one interpretation of a bible story, especially one as well-known as Exodus to appease the masses.That being said...This version of the Exodus story is one of the best interpretations I’ve ever seen. In a world where reason has taken over for blind faith this movie is a fantastic representation of those events.Furthermore, it answers in me questions I had as a child that the tried and true reply of "have faith" simply couldn’t answer.How could Moses lead his people out of Egypt? I think of myself, a man. Would I be able to walk into Egypt and tell Pharaoh? "Let mu people go" and then simply walk out? No. Even with the grace of God all around me. I am fallible that way. Moses, like me did not have a covenant with God, he did not know God and was acting on blind faith, perhaps madness.This movie explains that Moses was a man of action, which he would have been (most likely) if he was raised with his step-brother Ramses.This would explain a ton of things. This is a man, that I can understand much better, than a shepherd, told to go to the mecca of the known world (at the time), to a place where he was exiled from and start making demands.Even the plagues and how and why they happened and the consequences thereafter are explained much better.No movie is perfect, and this one is no exception. However in the hands of Ridley Scott this is a modern day master piece.Some creative license must be taken if this story is to make sense to not only Catholics and believers such as myself, but to secular folks that may have a passing interest in the matter.The production is fantastic. The direction is without equal and the acting is spot on. You will be entertained. You will have a good time and at the very least you can take what is presented, then go back to the subject matter and find out more. I see nothing wrong with that. It’s a win/win for everyone.Please, sit back and enjoy the movie. A movie that was dedicated to the director’s deceased brother was made with much love and was shared with the entire world.

I gave 5 stars so you will read before considering a purchase. It should get zero stars. Even the crappiest of movies that try to show us what happened in the Bible can make a person think and worship God. This movie takes God out of it period. The only time it brings God in is to blame Him for killing children. In short this movie does not point in any way to the one true and living God. It worships man and science. I tried to watch unbiased but even as just a movie it is boring and lacks redemption. If you’re looking for a good Friday night film to entertain you, this ain’t that. If you’re looking for a Biblical account of the exodus, well, this ain’t that.

One of my favorite movies

THE FILM: Ridley Scott could do epic films in his sleep, and his sense of scale in storytelling has few equals these days. However, EXODUS: GODS AND KINGS is definitely one of his lesser efforts. To begin with, it was a fool's errand to try and remake Cecil B. DeMille's THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Secondly, a lot of choices he makes in the details of the story will not go over well with the a large part of the target audience. By now, the story of Moses leading the Hebrews out of Egypt is ubiquitous in literature and legend. Ask anyone and they'll probably be able to tell you part of it, if not the whole thing. So, the onus was on Ridley Scott to do something new and innovative to justify this new cinematic interpretation, and what the writers came up with is good and bad, in about equal measure. One major change which will certainly turn off Evangelicals is jettisoning the supernatural aspects of the story entirely, opting to ground it in history and reality as much as possible. So, the 10 Plagues and the parting of the Red Sea are straightforward natural disasters/occurrences. Then there's the portrayal of God as a petulant child, again, which will not sit well with the religious segment of the audience. Too bad for them that such a characterization is apt if you read the Old Testament thoroughly. What doesn't translate so well is the relationships among the central characters. I never quite bought the bond between Rameses and Moses, nor between Moses and his wife Zipporah. In general, the acting was fine given the talent involved, but none of them felt truly invested in the material, such that occasionally it came off more stagey/contrived than THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. The film also as a dreadfully slow pace and staggers from setpiece to setpiece with little or no emotional involvement or stakes beyond what is conjured up through some admittedly awesome visual effects. Ah, the visual effects. This is where the film comes out head and shoulders above its predecessors, and is really the only legitimate reason for seeing this. As stated before, Ridley Scott can do spectacle like no other and he doesn't disappoint here. There are a few well-staged battle sequences, and the 10 Plagues and crossing the Red Sea must have been jaw-dropping in theaters (I watched this on a Blu-ray). When all is said and done, the only reason I'm being so generous with the rating, or even really bothered buying it at all is because I'm a Ridley Scott fan and completist. Most other people would be better served by watching the Cecil B. DeMille film.THE EXTRAS: As with most of Ridley Scott's films, this Blu-ray comes packaged with a wealth of supplementary material that delve into all aspects of production with very fine detail. Located on the main feature disc are about 15 minutes worth of deleted/extended scenes, which can viewed in 3D on the 3D feature disc. However, the bulk of the material is a 7-part documentary entitled "Keepers of the Covenant - The Making of Exodus: Gods and Kings," which is as long as the film itself. My favorite part is the first segment which goes into the research on Moses and Ancient Egypt that was an integral part of the script and what appears onscreen. Christian Bale also referenced some books which I will probably check out in the near future, provided my interest on the subject doesn't wane too much. Predictably, there is a veritable mountain of information as Ridley Scott, et al go into how they filmed various sequences, achieved certain visual effects, and look at the various sets and locations. Supplementing this enormous documentary are "Enhancement Pods" that have the option to pop up at various moments while watching the main documentary and go still further into the filmmaking process with mini-featurettes on some of the previous topics, while also showing off hundreds of conceptual designs, sketches, set photos and storyboards. If you can think of it, it's all here. Those "Enhancement Pods" and photo galleries are also to watch independent of the "making of" documentary. Generally, I got the impression that Ridley Scott is a demanding, yet economical director. Perhaps he just needs to be more selective when it comes to the scripts he chooses rather than getting something "good enough" so that he can get to the aspects of film production that seem to interest him more, namely visuals and design.OVERALL: This new interpretation of the Exodus story had a lot going against it from the get-go. First, the already iconic Cecil B. DeMille adaptation (twice over, actually), and also the changes made to the story in the service of "realism." Ridley Scott succeeded insofar as the film looks really good, but fails at creating compelling drama. Other than wasting the talents of the cast assembled, the film just feels sterile and emotionally distant; it doesn't make you feel anything, which is what all good stories should do. Other than that, this Blu-ray package is as excellent as any film Ridley Scott has done. The film looks amazing on Blu-ray (I didn't test the 3D disc, though), and the supplementary material provided befits the epic nature of the film. Dare I say that the bonus features are better than the film itself (and the reason for giving this set 4 stars)? If you're looking for a good reference disc to show off your home theater system, or just like Ridley Scott films then by all means this will be worth a purchase. Otherwise, here's to hoping that THE MARTIAN, Ridley Scott's next film, is a step back in the right direction.