Exodus is yet another big budget Hollywood movie, the other being Noah, to be based on a biblical story. This time, it is about Moses.
Christian Bale stars as Moses, who I believe was a good choice for the role and did pretty well. Can't say the same for Ramses, the evil Pharaoh. Joel Edgerton wasn't bad per say, but he didn't give this bad evil-ish vibe that I wish was present. The movie's writing is at fault here too.
The second half of the movie, starting from the plagues till the end, was great. I loved the plagues and their presentation, they were thrilling and frightening. Would have been even better if there was some breathing room given to them and if there was more suspense created, but oh well. The finale was again Epic, with the red sea rushing back and all. Being a Ridley Scott film, you can surely expect a visual spectacle, and this movie certainly had many. Beautiful views of Egypt, epic scope, great overhead shots, great cinematography all in all.
The CGI was mostly great. Egypt was beautifully realized and we get to feel its grandness. There were a few instances where green screen use was apparent. Soundtrack was decent, but I was kinda disappointed by it. Was hoping to have at least one great track that really gets you going.
Now, the movie had it fair share of flaws. The first half or so got slow pretty soon after the epic opening battle and kinda got boring. The personal stuff, aside from Moses and Ramses conflict, wasn't interesting and bogged down the movie. Also, a child messenger representing God and all the talks that followed was really underwhelming. Would have been better if it was just a voice or something, they could have used Liam Neeson's voice. But my biggest complaint with the movie is that how anti-climatic the quintessential moment was, and I'm of course talking about the splitting of the Red sea. I was in so much anticipation about finally seeing that moment realized perfectly thanks to modern CGI and with Ridley Scott at helm, only to be extremely disappointed by seeing it reduced to nothing but a steady receding of the water. WTF Ridley Scott. I get that they were going for a more realistic approach or whatever, but CMON, somethings aren't meant to be changed/meddled with.
Overall, even with the flaws, I still did like the movie. Don't hesitate to watch it because of the hate it got as majority of it is from extreme religious people or extreme atheists. Just go in with an open mind and you might enjoy it. If nothing else, you can't deny the grandeur and epicness of it.
7.8/10
