Exodus: Gods and Kings

First, I would like to address the naysayers and 'hate' reviews I've seen for this movie for being historically inaccurate. I find this reason for a poor review to be, unfortunately, historically accurate. As nobody has firsthand experience from a story told over 4000+ years ago there is no possible way to actually make a movie based on the life of Moses and those around him, historically accurate. It is all based on a translation of documents (books) passed down through generations of re-writes and embellished stories written in a time where true knowledge was scarce and the lack of a print press meant everything was written by hand by man. The bible goads over the imperfections of man yet relies on man's interpretation (vis-à-vis; The Bible) to be factually accurate. The hypocrisy is self evident to anyone being truthful to themselves and others. This is why so many poor reviews have made it to the light of day because so many people out there take the story of Moses (from The Bible) to be a factually accurate account of his time on Earth.

Anyway, I digress. Exodus: Gods and Kings has wonderful acting and direction and should be lauded for such. Any reviews lower than 5 stars are simply false and should be ignored due to this. That being said, I found this movie to be superb in many ways that off-put many Christian moviegoers. They took an old story and made it fresh and believe it or not, somewhat believable and much easier on the stomach than its original material. Without going into detail they have taken the story of Moses and made many changes that could rightfully explain some of the more outrageous claims made by The Bible. While this made many hard nose bible thumping Christians raise their arms in disgust, this Christian applauds the effort and yearns for more.

Christian Bale does a fine job as Moses and really shows he still has it and will likely end up with the greats such as Jack Nicholson, Clint Eastwood and Robert De Niro who have stood the test of time and, in many instances, gotten better with age. While I'm not a fan of Christian Bale as a person, I am truly awed at his acting ability.

Joel Edgerton as the antagonist also does a fine job of showing the conflict within himself of having to deal with his "brother's" new- found God and people. I loved him in Warrior and he does a great job here, as well.

Unlikely TV personality turned silver screener Aaron Paul shows that he can actually do something outside of Jessie from Breaking Bad and was much better than I expected, albeit not perfect.

John Turturro, Ben Kingsley & Siqourney Weaver also have roles and each do a fantastic job with the material they were given. Sadly Ms. Weaver did not get near enough screen time and I sincerely hope there are many deleted scenes on the DVD/Blu-Ray that involve her.

In conclusion, Exodus: Gods and Kings is a great movie with a good story, great actors and superb direction. The CG is top rate with some real breathtaking scenes showing what civilization may have looked like 4000+ years ago. Just be warned, the story has been changed to reflect miracles in a different, more palatable light. Go in with an open mind and not an open Bible and you will enjoy yourself immensely.

*This review is of the NON-3D version of the film. I felt adding 3D to an historic account may have taken me out of the movie so I chose to see it in normal format. However, from what I'm hearing from others, I may have made the wrong choice. Either way, I am very pleased with my experience and would gladly recommend Exodus to others.