When you meet larger than life characters like Krishna, Jesus Christ, Buddha or even Superman, it is important to understand the backgrounds & factors which made them such in the first place. It is indeed pretty hard to encapsulate such megatons into scriptwriting and peel a film out of them. Legendary director Sir Ridley Scott once proved his capability in epic period storytelling through the 73rd Academy Awards' Best Picture, Gladiator. Unfortunately, we can't say the same for this Christian Bale starrer.
Speaking of the plot, there are no any inspirations in it. Moses' (Christian Bale) struggle & fight against the slavery acts toward his fellow Hebrews form the slug line. Logical reasoning, yes. But, where is the soulful justification behind Moses' actions in the film? The screenplay is on a turtle's back, crawling across for a duration of 2.5 hours. Billy Rich should have come to the rescue with his editing tools. God's ten plagues is the best 15-minute episode in the entire motion picture that keeps you at the edges of your seats! Crocodiles, lice, flies, skin disease, ice rain; you name it! The death of all the firstborn children seals the deal. Climax involving a huge flood water rush is riveting! But, how did Ramesses (Joel Edgerton) survived among others who didn’t is still a question. Moses' and Zipporah's (María Valverde) marriage is too quick & unconvincing.
Dialogues pushed the feature's quality a unit down. Contemporary language used in 1,300 BCE? Words like 'economics' and 'decompose' induced laughter. Take The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies for good references, please. You have a powerhouse like Christian Bale shouldering such a magnificent tale & character, but in the end all appears bland and boring. Joel Edgerton is a distinguished cast, for his looks consoled the role more than his acting itself. The poor & thin characterization has got a lot to do in stopping to galvanize and bring the best out of the actors. Alberto Iglesias' background score is standard only.
Three departments worked hand-in-hand. Dariusz Wolski's cinematography did full justice to the maker's vision. Watch out for the crocodile point-of-view and the little horse escaping from Tsunami. Crane shots were fantastic in boasting the rich & majestic setting designs. You can't complain about the visual effects. Ancient Egyptian architecture has never before shown with such glossiness & realism. Winner of the lot.
Sir Ridley Scott's biblically-inspired epic has snippets of gripping events, lavish VFX work & grand era settings. But, the feeble characterizations, weak acting presentations, stodgy screenwriting plus inappropriate choice of language shows off easily. This could be the most boring version of Moses' heroic story one'll ever see with the best Egyptian backdrop ever erected.