By now, I think we have all agreed that when Ridley Scott said that Exodus: Gods and Kings was “historically accurate,” what he really meant was “historically accurate to Biblical epics of the 1950s.” So taking this for granted, we can now start the debate on whether or not the film will be a Ridley Scott classic, or a Ridley Scott epic failure. To further contribute to this debate prior to the film’s actual release, we have a new clip from Exodus: Gods and Kings.
in the footage that we see here, Moses (Christian Bale) and Ramses (Joel Edgerton) lend their Anglophone accents to a discussion of heading off to war on…someone. It’s not entirely clear why they’re waging war, or what their ultimate goal is in this sixty second clip, but it certainly does look exciting. As Ramses leads the charge into the fray, we are rewarded with some pretty good (if brief) action to whet our appetites for the rest of the film.
Setting whitewashing aside, there’s nothing wrong with a good, old-fashioned epic. The question is, though, whether Exodus: Gods and Kings is even going to be a good, old-fashioned epic. True, we have all the thespians money could buy, from Bale and Edgerton, to Ben Kingsley, Sigourney Weaver, and even Aaron Paul. Scott is also pretty dependable when it comes to action and battle scenes – that was one of the greatest strengths of both Kingdom of Heaven and Gladiator. So Exodus: Gods and Kings has the potential to be an entertaining film, even if we continue to question some of the casting decisions.
It’s difficult to tell from this clip whether Exodus: Gods and Kings will really be any good, though, so I guess that we will just have to wait for it to come out on December 12. Until then, you can watch the new footage and consider if you’re willing to bypass some of the other problems for a chance at a good Ridley Scott epic.