Ridley Scott Tells the Story of Moses in Exodus: Gods & Kings
July 11, 2014 by dracs
It seems as if Biblical epics are seeing something of a resurgence lately. First we had Noah, an excellent fantasy retelling of the Genesis story. Now, Ridley Scott and Christian Bale come together to tell the story of Exodus: Gods and Kings.
We all know the Biblical story of Exodus, of the outcast Moses being chosen by God to set the Israelites free from the Pharaoh of Egypt. It has been turned into some excellent works of film in the past, from the classic epic The Ten Commandments, to the excellent animated musical Prince of Egypt.
Biblical epics used to be a mainstay of cinema, as they were usually able to get around a lot of the censorship issues of the day. From this trailer it looks like we are in for a return to form, with sweeping battles surrounded by cool special effects to create a compelling fantasy action film.
From the trailer, it looks like Exodus: Gods and Kings will be following the example of Prince of Egypt in story terms, focusing upon the personal conflict between Moses and Rameses, with Christian Bale taking on the role of the cultural hero Moses.
Having seen Noah earlier this year, I can safely say there is definitely a place for these Biblical re-imaginings in modern cinema. Noah succeeded in turning a familiar story into one part fantasy action and one part edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller.
Exodus: Gods and Kings looks as though the plagues of God will serve more as a backdrop to the story, allowing room for sweeping battles and more personal character development.
Ridley Scott s definitely a director who knows how to do these historical works well, with his previous success on works such as Gladiator and Robin Hood. It will be interesting to see what new things this retelling bring to the story.
Think you'll be going to see this film?
I’ve read the book
Not a patch on lord of the rings lol
The Moses stories in Exodus are some of the main texts I was taught to read Hebrew with. At least they’re better than the rest of the book. At times it’s like reading an Ikea assembly manual.
I’m undecided on seeing it. Not so much for its subject matter but because Ridley’s recent films haven’t been up to much. I’ll probably wait until the reviews are in.
The version in the Epic of Gilgamesh is better
The version of the Exodus?
The Great Flood, mentioned in a 700 BC Babylonian copy of the Epic of Gilgamesh. In this work, the hero, Gilgamesh, meets the immortal man Utnapishtim, and the latter describes how the god Ea instructed him to build a huge vessel in anticipation of a deity-created flood that would destroy the world. The vessel would save Utnapishtim, his family, his friends, and the animals
I’m familiar with it :). That’s Genesis rather than Exodus though. I honestly wasn’t sure whether you making a clever in-joke 🙂
*you were making
I also preferred the Enuma Elish… a bit more raw and definitive than Genesis ! We had a blast during my semester of mesopotamian History… 🙂
It’s great until Marduk starts getting like a million names. Babylonian new year must have been duuuull listening to all those being read out lol.
Cant say for certain but every civilization and religion seem to have a great flood, renewing of the earth type myth
Batman does the Bible. The trailer looks spectacular.
Ridley Scott has to be one of the most inconsistent directors in Hollywood. He has the reputation of a great director based on a few truly brilliant films, but he’s also made a lot of disappointing, mediocre movies. I’d say he has more misses than hits, but his hits are fabulous. I agree with @redben in saying that he hasn’t made a really good film for a long time, but I don’t think it was ever the case that all his films used to be good. Still, he gave us Alien, Bladerunner, Thelma and Louise and Gladiator. He deserves a… Read more »
I really enjoyed Prometheus and I did enjoy Robin Hood as a throw-away kind of standard historical action film.
It’s important to remember that Ridley Scott is not Steven Spielberg and has never tried to be.
I’m not sure what you’re getting at with the last comment. Can you elaborate?
I think Blade Runner is one of the greatest films ever made. Alien is superb too. Prometheus was dull, ponderous, and pretentious.
I disagree with you about Prometheus, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.
Of course we are and we both expressed our opinions as such :). I’m still interested in knowing what you meant by the Spielberg comparison.
🙂
I think my point is that people talk about Scott as being ‘hit or miss’, but I think this is because he is willing to cover such a wide variety of styles that his films will not appeal to everyone.
Spielberg on the other hand will obviously shoot different genres too, but his films are less adventurous in their themes and style. And Im saying this as a huge Spielberg fan btw.
Basically I see Scott as an experimenter and Spielberg as somebody who has nailed down his particular style and then gone with it to great success.
Does this make sense? 😛
Yes, thanks 🙂
“historical”…. *snort*
The Duellists is not a bad film either, Kingdom of Heaven though in a bit historically dodgy is a fun film as well
Though Alien and Blade Runner are classics
A Good Year is a nice film as well
???
Some might think I’m nuts but I really liked Prince of Egypt out of all the Biblical movies so far. Even thought its animated you can see and hear the struggle Moses deals with.
I would love, just once, for a film to do an accurate portrayal of pre-Ptolemaic Egypt.
I think I’ll wait for the LEGO version.