Exodus: Götter und Könige

Die zig Mal erzählte biblische Geschichte... jetzt neu interpretiert von Ridley Scott. Nun, wenn ich nicht geahnt hätte, dass Joel Edgerton so ein extrem flexibler Schauspieler ist (die verschiedenen Masken, die Körperarbeit, der Akzent), hätte ich gesagt, es hängt alles von Bale ab. Aber Edgerton ist der wahre Held von Exodus. Insgesamt bin ich jedoch nicht begeistert, aber ich denke, es ist gut, einige Hollywood-Klassiker nicht zu vergessen. Aber ich halte den Animationsfilm Der Prinz von Ägypten für das Ideal unter allen Bearbeitungen. (24.08.2019)

Ein Bibelepos über Moses, in dem man sich nicht detailliert mit den Figuren und ihren Beziehungen befassen muss, weil wir die ja alle gut kennen. Es reicht eine hübsche epische Auffassung mit atemberaubenden Außenszenen und schönen Kostümen, eine effektvolle Darstellung der legendären Katastrophen und des Übergangs über das Meer – und das macht aus dem Film einen Hit. Falsch gedacht. Ich bin Atheist und nur von den Ereignissen aus der Bibel war ich nicht begeistert. Die sollten nur eine gedankliche Basis für die gefühlvolle Darstellung der Beweggründe der Figuren sowie der schwierigen und historisch bedeutenden Etappe der Menschheit mit ihren politischen und ethnischen Problemen sein. Bei Exodus: Götter und Könige fehlt all das oder es wurde nur schnell erledigt. Ein todernstes Werk, das weniger unterhaltsam als der Unsinn Dracula Untold ist. (28.12.2014)

An untraditional presentation of God (the comparison God as a kid with a magnifying glass and people as ants lacks metaphor) and a story of Egyptian plagues. Scott works with modern themes and reflects the contemporary wherever he can. Sometimes this is to the benefit of the movie, sometimes to its harm. The problem is the restricted length (Sigourney appears almost as an extra) which eats away at the sophistication of the characters and the significance of some decisions. Exodus reminds me of the movie theater version of Kingdom of Heaven which, despite its quality workmanship, didn’t manage to say what it was all about and that wasn’t fixed until the director’s cut came out on Blue-Ray. The exteriors and the effects are well-polished and the Egyptian makeup soon didn’t matter anymore. At all stages of Moses, Bale was excellent, but his friendly atheist becomes a believer schizophrenic far too soon and in the second part the good guy turns into a bad guy, God knows why... and Rameses just won’t negotiate with terrorists. The viewer understands this in the light of contemporary events, doesn’t he? Doesn’t he? Missed opportunities certainly, a bad movie definitely not. Compared to Prince of Egypt, just a little superfluous. (27.12.2014)

We can clearly see in every other scene, how much the movie was edited and it is more that obvious that Ridley has a much longer version of it in his drawer. Without this, it would have been even better. But even in its current not polished form, it is exactly what one would expect from it. In other words, it is a truly magnificent and handcrafted adaptation of one of the most impressive stories ever. The snag is mainly in the form of the already mentioned cinema editing, which should have either been shorter and free of all those ambitious subversive motives and themes (Moses' blinded madness, his unbelief, vengeful (not)God of preschool age, emphasis on the non-mythological line, doubting Joshua, Macbeth-like Sigourney, much more sympathetic Egyptians led by the pharaoh, etc.) and simply being an "precise" adaptation of the well-known or should have been even longer and should have been more focused on the above-mentioned and purely sympathetic ambitious subversions. In its current form, however, it is unfinished and halfway, because the epicness of Egypt, individual wounds and the exodus itself were prioritized in terms of footage. Which is a letdown on one hand, but on the other hand it is very enjoyable to watch. That is for sure. (26.06.2015)

At first, I thought Scott was going to do the bidding of the Jewish lobby, which has long since failed to let the viewing public be moved by its bitter fate through a narrative sandal. Yet he goes about it in a surprisingly rational way, and so while the pragmatic appreciation of the seven plagues of Egypt by Pharaoh's croaker is still laughable, Moshe's revolution, in which he is on the edge of personal madness, is no longer feigned, and the unorthodox vision is definitely clamped at the bottom of the Red Sea, with even the slight shortcoming (the not-quite-functional portrayal of the bond between the "brothers," which is fortunately saved by both characters; and 20 minutes more would have helped) receding and both ordinary viewers and the those familiar with the literary work will be satisfied. (20.07.2015)