Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Ben Kingsley, John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Tara Fitzgerald and Sigourney Weaver
Screenplay by Adam Cooper, Bill Collage, Jeffrey Caine and Steven Zaillian
Directed by Ridley Scott
Rated PG-13 for R-rated violence (I give up on understanding the ratings system.).
Exdous: Gods and Kings is a better follow up to Gladiator than 2009's Robin Hood, which wasn't bad, per se, but was so stilted and aloof that it played like it desperately needed an enema. That's the good news. The bad news is, Exodus: Gods and Kings is trying too hard much of the time to be Gladiator, which in an of itself is nothing new: just this year both The Legend of Hercules and Pompeii have blatantly ripped off Gladiator, and over the past decade or so everything from Troy to 300 to (I am not making this up) Zorro! The Musical have at best worn the influence of Scott's triumphant epic on their sleeve and at worst come close to plagiarism. But when it gets to the point that Scott himself is doing it, complete with lifting lines of dialogue directly from that film and playing the Moses-Seti-Ramses dynamic as a variation on Maximus-Marcus Aurellius-Commodus (though Ramses is far less creepy), it's a bit ridiculous. What's more, at times Scott seems to be having a go at Robin Hood again, as he has given Moses a band of Merry Men whom he instructs in the proper use of the bow and arrow, and at one point I thought that any moment Ramses was going to hold an archery tournament to try and draw out Moses. And then there's the presence of Sigourney Weaver in her once every decade or so "yes, this is a Ridley Scott movie and I was Ellen Ripley" role.
The film follows the well established story of Moses, but from a different angle. Instead of starting with a baby in a basket, we begin in in 1300 B.C, with Moses (Bale) as a general and member of the royal family, preparing to attack the Hittie army with Prince Ramses (Edgerton). Seti I (Turturro) tells the two men of a recent prophecy in which one will save the other and become a leader. During the attack on the Hittites, Moses saves Ramses' life, leaving both men troubled. Later, Moses is sent to the city of Pithom. Upon his arrival, he encounters the slave Joshua (Paul) and is appalled by the horrific conditions of the slaves. Shortly afterwards, Moses meets Nun (Kingsley), who informs him of his true lineage; he is the child of Hebrew parents who was sent by his sister Miriam to be raised by Pharaoh's daughter. Seti dies shortly after Moses' return to Memphis, and Ramses becomes the new pharaoh. Ramses does not want to believe it when he hears the story of Moses's true indentity, when the truth comes out, he decides to send Moses into exile. Before leaving Egypt, Moses meets with his birth mother and Miriam, who refer to him by his birth name of Moishe (and I have to admit I was a bit disappointed not to see a scene where Miriam throws a tantrum about all of the attention her brother is getting. "Why is everything always about him? Moishe Moishe Moishe!")
As we all know, from here Moses journeys into the desert, and eventually converses with God, who is presented in this film, quite literally, in the form of a petulant child, in what is likely to be the most controversial aspect of the film among the "they've rewritten the Bible/Darren Arronofsky ate my baby!" Christian right (who, of course, have a solid and singular claim on these movies about the great Jewish Prophets.). This is not an entirely effective choice, but it's not altogether ineffective, either. Let's face it, this story belongs to the Jews, the Christians, the Muslims, and a whole lot of other people who all have different opinions on who or what God is, and it's impossible to portray Him in a way that will satisfy everyone (even now, someone reading this is taking exception to my designation of God as a Him, and I don't entirely disagree.). The relationship between God and Moses in this film is a unique portrayal, and a standard complaint that I am hearing was actually one of my favorite parts of the film, and a key element to why I loved Noah so such: where many are complaining that Moses is too passive, and not taking a enough of an active role in all of this, I love seeing the Prophets of old portrayed as subject to the same confusion, frustration, doubt and anger that we all face as people trying to keep the faith. What's more, the portrayal of the miracles and plagues in a more subtle and plausible form really worked for me. The popular Ten Commandments portrayal of God making His (sorry) presence an established fact that Ramses is just too stubborn to admit has never really made sense to me, and even less so the idea that the Hebrews quite literally see Moses stand on a rock, wave his magic staff to part the read sea in half through the power of God, leaving the sand underneath completely dry, but once they are across they immediately decide "well, that worked out all right, let's celebrate with an orgy and the building of idols!" When Bale's Moses asks his people to follow his faith, it's nice to see both that this is not an easy request, and that the faith of Moses is something he himself has to work at like the rest of us do.
Bale is terrific as always, though he and Scott do not completely succeed in making us connect with the character, and it seems as if they are struggling to get a handle on him. The biggest issue is that we don't really get a strong sense that Moses has a great love for either Egypt or the Hebrews, pulling him between the two worlds, the way we see in other versions. The strength of this is in making him feel like an odd duck that doesn't fit in anywhere; the weakness is that we aren't swept up into his motivation. But Bale gets enough mileage out of Moses's horror at the treatment of the slaves to sell it. Joel Edgerton, a sensational actor who needs to be given more star vehicles, gives the most human portrayal of Pharoah we've seen on screen. The performances are successful all around, though Weaver doesn't quite blend with the rest of the cast because she doesn't do an authentic Hebrew or Egyptian pseudo-British accent. The cinematography by Dariusz Wolski is among the very best of the year. There really is a lot to like about this film, and I found that I held a higher opinion of it than most of the members of the press I viewed it with, but it is simply far too lacking in a strong narrative and too detached to achieve greatness. To summarize: I liked the movie, many seem to genuinely hate it, and I really, really wanted to love it but just couldn't quite manage it. It's definitely worth a look for those with an open mind, but don't expect a definitive version of this epic tale.
(As a side note, the film is dedicated to Tony Scott, the director's late brother and a prominent director in his own right, which is quite touching for fans of the Scott brothers. Although, to put a cynical spin on it, I must say that given the self referential nature of the film, I pictured Ridley thinking "I owe it to my brother to make to the homage to me that he certainly should have if I'd died first.").
No comments:
Post a Comment