whistler118
Joined May 2010
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Ratings183
whistler118's rating
Reviews7
whistler118's rating
Like any Ridley Scott film, Exodus promised big budget, big action, big story culminating into what can only be described as a traditional'epic' blockbuster. Unfortunately, Exodus fails to meet this status, bringing to question whether the stigma attached to the director is still justified.
The film, based on the story of Moses, follows the same beaten track of films and stories before. The story is both familiar but repetitive with only small twists which attempt to relate to a modern and largely un-religious audience.
Its on this I must make a side note, films based on religious beliefs instantly ring alarm bells; they either are ridiculous (Noah for example), overly religious or tame. Exodus is the latter, tame. It attempts to carefully tiptoe around anything that could be controversial resulting in a product that falls short of even the 1998 cartoon 'Prince of Egypt'.
However, a familiar but tame story can usually be saved by inspiring acting and interesting character development. Unfortunately, this is exodus' biggest failing. The story focused on two individuals, Moses and Ramses, with almost no development of any other character. Christian Bale's performance as Moses let much to be desired and was completely unsuited to the role of an inspirational leader. Its because of his un-remarkable acting and script that results in large pieces of the film being instantly forgettable. The same can be said about all of the main supporting actors whose only role was to provide exposition when the story required it. The multiple award winning Aaron Paul barely has a line of speech throughout the one hundred and fifty minute film as an example.
In spite of this Exodus does have a few redeeming features that return it from a disaster. The graphics and special effects are fantastic and coupled with the more down to earth and modern portrayal of the ten plagues of Egypt its creates a more relatable film. This results in that feeling of grandeur and 'epicness' one expects from such a film. A special note must go to the acting of Joel Edgerton, Ramses, who breathes fresh life into the film, or at least his part of it, through immersive and inspiring acting. He plays the role of an increasingly desperate king perfectly and is a joy to watch.
Overall, Exodus leaves the viewer with mixed opinions. It is not a bad film, its well constructed and had a mixture of good and bad points, but its not a good film either. The biggest criticism is that its boring. I was very rarely gripped and never excited as to what might happen next. Too often does the film descend into slow, uninteresting and unnecessary plot development scenes which became a chore to get through. After the similarly disappointing releases from Ridley Scott in the last few years I have to conclude that he may have seen his best days. I have given this film a 6/10 as it does have the essence of an 'epic' blockbuster but its delivery poorly done.
The film, based on the story of Moses, follows the same beaten track of films and stories before. The story is both familiar but repetitive with only small twists which attempt to relate to a modern and largely un-religious audience.
Its on this I must make a side note, films based on religious beliefs instantly ring alarm bells; they either are ridiculous (Noah for example), overly religious or tame. Exodus is the latter, tame. It attempts to carefully tiptoe around anything that could be controversial resulting in a product that falls short of even the 1998 cartoon 'Prince of Egypt'.
However, a familiar but tame story can usually be saved by inspiring acting and interesting character development. Unfortunately, this is exodus' biggest failing. The story focused on two individuals, Moses and Ramses, with almost no development of any other character. Christian Bale's performance as Moses let much to be desired and was completely unsuited to the role of an inspirational leader. Its because of his un-remarkable acting and script that results in large pieces of the film being instantly forgettable. The same can be said about all of the main supporting actors whose only role was to provide exposition when the story required it. The multiple award winning Aaron Paul barely has a line of speech throughout the one hundred and fifty minute film as an example.
In spite of this Exodus does have a few redeeming features that return it from a disaster. The graphics and special effects are fantastic and coupled with the more down to earth and modern portrayal of the ten plagues of Egypt its creates a more relatable film. This results in that feeling of grandeur and 'epicness' one expects from such a film. A special note must go to the acting of Joel Edgerton, Ramses, who breathes fresh life into the film, or at least his part of it, through immersive and inspiring acting. He plays the role of an increasingly desperate king perfectly and is a joy to watch.
Overall, Exodus leaves the viewer with mixed opinions. It is not a bad film, its well constructed and had a mixture of good and bad points, but its not a good film either. The biggest criticism is that its boring. I was very rarely gripped and never excited as to what might happen next. Too often does the film descend into slow, uninteresting and unnecessary plot development scenes which became a chore to get through. After the similarly disappointing releases from Ridley Scott in the last few years I have to conclude that he may have seen his best days. I have given this film a 6/10 as it does have the essence of an 'epic' blockbuster but its delivery poorly done.
There is no doubt about it, Fury is perhaps one of the best war films to come out in the last few year, but unfortunately for either film buffs or history buffs this film disappoints on many levels.
As a film, Fury does a good job of building the characters and the environment that they are in. This has to be the strongest part of the film, its ability to portray the war and the crew of Fury, the tank, in a human but gritty manner. Through this, it presents a number of unsettling scenes which help pull the audience into the character development and general war time environment. However, by doing so its falls into a number of cliché's that we expect from a modern American war film; young recruit, alpha dog sergeant, shocking gore, a love interest and a heroic jingoistic final battle. By following these cliché's I cant help feel that the film was already written and that too much time was spent developing the characters rather than what the audience is there for, to watch a war film.
On this, Fury mostly does an great job. The battles place you on the edge of your seat, the graphic are superb and the sounds are some of the best I have heard. Combining this with overview and crew point of view camera angles its immerses the watcher completely into that world. We also see the current fashion of attempting to shock the audience with gore. This current fashion suits Fury well as it compliments the gritty cinematography, however, I can't help feel that they have over gored it at times.
However, for any audience, film or historical backing, the film falls apart in one main area, the portrayal of the Germans. It is because of this the film will never be a war film classic and will quickly be forgotten about in the coming months. The Germans are depicted as faceless, brain dead, incompetent idiots and plays the roll of a target for Pitt's crew's machine-guns. Some scenes are more comparable to a zombie movie than a WW2 war film! There is also no need for this apart from supporting the film's American patriotic hero vibe.
In summary, Fury is a immerse, gritty and largely enjoyable film, however, the ever increasing jingoistic wave reaches a tipping point in the film leaving many bewildered audience members disappointed.
As a film, Fury does a good job of building the characters and the environment that they are in. This has to be the strongest part of the film, its ability to portray the war and the crew of Fury, the tank, in a human but gritty manner. Through this, it presents a number of unsettling scenes which help pull the audience into the character development and general war time environment. However, by doing so its falls into a number of cliché's that we expect from a modern American war film; young recruit, alpha dog sergeant, shocking gore, a love interest and a heroic jingoistic final battle. By following these cliché's I cant help feel that the film was already written and that too much time was spent developing the characters rather than what the audience is there for, to watch a war film.
On this, Fury mostly does an great job. The battles place you on the edge of your seat, the graphic are superb and the sounds are some of the best I have heard. Combining this with overview and crew point of view camera angles its immerses the watcher completely into that world. We also see the current fashion of attempting to shock the audience with gore. This current fashion suits Fury well as it compliments the gritty cinematography, however, I can't help feel that they have over gored it at times.
However, for any audience, film or historical backing, the film falls apart in one main area, the portrayal of the Germans. It is because of this the film will never be a war film classic and will quickly be forgotten about in the coming months. The Germans are depicted as faceless, brain dead, incompetent idiots and plays the roll of a target for Pitt's crew's machine-guns. Some scenes are more comparable to a zombie movie than a WW2 war film! There is also no need for this apart from supporting the film's American patriotic hero vibe.
In summary, Fury is a immerse, gritty and largely enjoyable film, however, the ever increasing jingoistic wave reaches a tipping point in the film leaving many bewildered audience members disappointed.
