You would think an Oscar-nominated director would give you an entertaining epic"”even when it's not trying to be an Oscar-caliber epic. History remembers The Ten Commandants as that Oscar-caliber epic while Exodus: Gods and Kings is a forgettable flick.
Christian Bale plays Moses, an Egyptian prince who learns he is really a Hebrew and now must discover his true purpose in life after a "random young boy" (standing next to a burning bush) tells him to go back to Egypt and free his people. That's right! A "boy" tells him to do that. Not the burning bush.
The film takes creative liberties of the biblical text, which may offend many religious people. But the only thing that offended me was that the film tried to explore the liberties without creativity. The film is an "alternative universe" of the Moses story. Yes, some of the main events from the original story still happen: plagues, a stubborn pharaoh, the parting of the Red Sea. But ultimately, it's executed on character decisions and situations that were made just for the movie.
The film kept me at a distance and never resonated with me. I never cared for what Christian Bale was doing. This is a coming-of-age tale of a man finding his identity and purpose, but it rushes through the milestones that we need to share with his character: finding love, finding God, finding courage, etc. The dramatic journey of Moses falls flat because there were too many unnecessary characters like Aaron Paul (who is still awesome in my book, just not in this movie because he did nothing but stare at Christian Bale all day and grow a beard) and half-hearted subplots. The film is boring because we don't see interesting choices and consequences made by the characters. Instead, true character arcs and development are prevented or cluttered. The film expects us to see Moses as a hero right away when he does nothing to really earn our respect. Bale's performance isn't good enough to mask his muddled character's journey.
The character of Ramses (Edgerton) is more watchable. Both Bale and Edgerton play reluctant leaders, but Edgerton outdoes Bale because Edgerton is able to exude a conflicted, sympathetic figure while Bale can't decide who Moses is. And that's more of a filmmaking problem because there is nothing in his character that is unique. The movie shies away from Moses being a religious zealot, an entitled prince or a dedicated family man. It plays around with all three ideas but is afraid to commit, and so you have a generic action hero with no memorable qualities. Well"¦ Christian Bale does whisper a lot in the film. So, I guess it makes the movie more epic in a subtle way?
