Gods Of Egypt
Director : Alex Proyas.
Staring : Gerrad Butler, Brenton Thwaites, Courtney Eaton, Elodie Yung, Nikolaj Coster-Waldu, Rachel
Blake, Bryan Brown, Chadwick Boseman, Rufus Sewell, Geoffrey Rush and many fine
and excellent other people.
Writers : Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless
Rating : 7/10.
Plot : Set, played by Gerrad Butler, takes offence to his
brother - Osiris, played by Bryan Brown, giving the throne of Egypt to his son,
Horus, played by Nikolaj Coster-Waldu. He takes over, banishes Horus and craps
all over the people of Egypt.
A young couple
are ripped apart by Set and his obsession with showing Ra, high in the sky
above them, that he has built greater tributes to him than any other person. As
his path leads him to dark places and temples that are forbidden he finds he
must help Horus reclaim his kingdom, or lose everything…
That is the basic
outline and with all reviews here there will be no spoliers or indepth plot
breakdowns, why? Because you want to see the film. Hell, even if you don’t I
still don’t want to tell you. I think the joy of film is in the experience of
seeing it, not being told about it.
Gods Of Egypt has
been hammered a bit for a few reasons, and to be fair, many of those reasons
could have been avoided. The main cast are all white males, which is obviously
a mistake if this film is set in Egypt, but it isn’t - it’s a space opera set
on a world created by space aliens that are actually far bigger than the
humanity. They quite literally tower over the mortals! It isn’t Egypt. It isn’t
even set on a conventional planet! So if they just called it something else, obviously
giving a nod to the Egyptian style of the film aesthetic, then they may have
dodged much of the controversial casting reaction.
I must admit,
when I saw the cast, trailer, and the title I presumed that Hollywood had yet
again white washed the world. Which pissed me off. So I have to hold my hand up
and say that though I was wrong to prejudge I was just acting on what I’d been
fed. Now, if the name of the film was slightly different – emphasising the space
opera nature of the film? Then they could have built a different wave of press.
Just saying.
Right. Anyway. On
with the review. So, the main thing about Gods of Egypt is that it is really
silly, super pretty, and so not there to try and grab an Oscar. It’s a
blockbuster from a technical director that has always used special effects to
their fullest – Alex Proyas. It leaps, jumps, flies and fights its way around
pyramids and sand dunes, over huge structures and into the space above it all.
It has a great look, strongly Egyptian in style and it flows well. The script
has some laughs, doesn’t take itself too seriously and delivers some good set
pieces. The players all play their parts well and, realistically, it isn’t that
bad. In fact, and this may seem to flow against the tide of negative reviews, I
really enjoyed Gods Of Egypt. It was silly, fast and for the most part it was
pretty. I really enjoyed watching Butler chew his way through his lines and
Coster-Waldu is cool. Brenton Thwaites is a good comedic foil and the
vulnerable human that is leaping about amongst the gods and the short rolls for
Geoffrey Rush and Bryan Brown made me smile. I haven’t seen Brown in anything
for ages! It was cool!
Hey, a special
note must go to the visual effects work in this. The height of the gods make
them seem all powerful and they blend almost seamlessly into the film. The
Egyptian armour looks great and the stuff with Ra in it is very, very cool.
Yes, Gods of
Egypt is a bit throw away, but I like all kinds of films and this one was all
about the on the night entertainment. It wanted to be with you for the two
hours you sat in front of it rather than trying to be meaningful and stay in
your thoughts long after. This meant that it avoided a fair few of the evils
that are plaguing some of the blockbusters released over the last few years,
one of those being an excessive running time. Fake drama and bad editing along
with these bloated running times have also hurt many of 2016s comic book films.
In closing, Gods
of Egypt is fun, silly and I really enjoyed it.
Gods of Egypt – 7/10
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