Year of Release: 2016
Director: Alex Proyas
Starring: Brenton Thwaites, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Gerard Butler, Geoffrey Rush, Chadwick Boseman, Courtney Eaton, Elodie Yung, Bryan Brown, Rachael Blake, Rufus Sewell, Abbey Lee, Robyn Nevin, Bruce Spence, Kenneth Ransom, Alexander England
Genre: Action, Adventure
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4
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Synopsis and Review
"Gods of Egypt" got roasted upon its release in 2016, which caused some sore reactions from its director, the underrated Alex Proyas. In a career that has spanned quite a few decades, this is only his sixth feature, which started with the iconic "The Crow" in 1994 (Brandon Lee, may he rest in peace), followed by the excellent "Dark City", and some others that were a bit overlooked such as "Garage Days" and some bigger blockbuster fare, such as "I, Robot" and "Knowing". The film takes place in ancient Egypt, where the gods live among the mortals. King Osiris who has been a loving ruler, is passing his crown to his son Horus. However Osiris's bitter brother Set, interrupts the ceremony, kills Osiris and battles Horus violently, taking his eyes and subsequently entitling himself ruler of all kingdoms. A year later, most of Egypt is enslaved, and Set has his architect Urshu building pyramids on the shoulders of slave work. Zaya, one of Urshu's slaves, passes the plans of Set's pyramid to her lover, Bek, who in turn manages to steal one of Horus' eyes. He and Zaya are however caught by Urshu, and while they make their escape, the bitter Urshu shoots an arrow that kills Zaya. Bek takes her body to Horus, along with his eye, hoping the exiled god can help him. They forge an alliance, where Bek helps Horus find the other eye, in exchange for Horus bringing Zaya back to life. However Set has plans of his own, something that even Ra, Horus' grandfather fears.
"Gods of Egypt" at some point reminded me of a modern take, more digitally centered, and possibly with some dubious taste, version of a Cecil B. DeMille extravaganza. Similar to what Ridley Scott typically does with his films, such as "Exodus", but in this case, without taking the narrative quite as seriously. And that's what ultimately ends up saving this film from being a laughable exercise in excess. Alex Proyas knows quite well that this is an adventure film at its core, with two personalities who don't like each other, being forced to work together in order to vanquish a common foe. He is also keenly aware that films such as Mike Newell's "Prince of Persia" didn't really work with audiences, so for this film he ups the excess, in terms of visual opulence, and even in terms of certain character traits that define these archetypes that populate the narrative. The film at its core, is a slight B-movie of the 50s, that has been given much more money to indulge in putting all the action together. Sadly what Alex Proyas fails to do here, lies not just on giving some characters a bit more to do (and be), but also with restraint. Aside from Bek and Horus, most of the supporting characters are very much cardboard presences, in dire need of just a slight more attention to justify both their actions and give the film a jolt of uniqueness (Gerard Butler's Set goes quite a bit overboard). And while the production design of the film is impressive (courtesy of the very talented Owen Paterson), the visual effects are a bit all over the place, with some green screen shots more obvious than others. Ultimately the film hints at what has made the best Alex Proyas' films work so well, namely a central hero who is drawn to a situation he did not sought after, and who has to uncover within himself the ability to safeguard what he treasures the most, unearthing a force he did not know he had. However, that spirit gets somewhat lost in the bauble and excess that lies in the production. The cast sadly does not help much, with Brenton Thwaites making a very wooden central character, without much support from Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, whereas Gerard Butler is on scenery-chewing mode. The cinematography from Peter Menzies Jr. is impeccable as is Owen Paterson's production design and Liz Keogh's costumes. It is a lackluster experience, but this director has potential and has delivered solid films previously.
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