It’s a pathetic accomplishment Ridley Scott manages to make an acclaimed cast only seem silly. Playing Moses with a whisper shout recalls the worst of Christian Bale’s other performances. Only last year he received an Oscar nomination for playing a con artist in American Hustle, and his ruffled attempt to go period feels like a con itself. Half the blame lies on Ridley Scott, who has Moses sporting a Wall Street style hairdo, and it’s hard to tell which aspects of the production are miserable attempts to go modern or are failings of authenticity. The digital cinematography is worse than bland. It makes sets look like sets and costumes look like costumes, and with the unfortunate lead performance by Bale and overall flawed production design, there’s a proverbial Red Sea between you and believing in Scott’s ancient Egypt.
Inoffensive, boring, and narratively incoherent, Exodus was a misguided project from top to bottom, and by the end I was exhausted. After two-and-a-half hours of head-scratching questions at this stupid, failure of a film, my brain threw in the towel. Exodus: Gods and Kings is the final straw. I no longer believe in Sir Ridley Scott.
It's funny. Looking at Scott's recent films I think I lost faith after Robin Hood. It's a simple story and considering what an interesting twist on the story we could have gotten, this was all the more disappointing. the Director's Cut of Kingdom of Heaven is the last great film by Riley Scott and everything after that falls flat on some, if not all levels for me and the reviews for this film don't make me want to lose 3 hours of my life that I could spend watching a great movie instead.
