Review: Gods of Egypt

Starring: Brenton Thwaites, Nokolaj Coster-Waldau, Gerard Butler
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This movie was panned by critics. “Not enough ethnic actors!” “Hollywood whitewashed it!” Blah, blah, blah. Ok, I get it…people want ethnic diversity in films, they also want accuracy…I understand that particularly for a historical film but getting upset over it in this film however is just silly (insert eye roll here). This film is total fantasy, it’s not meant to be historically accurate and if someone actually watches the film, they will notice there is quite a diverse cast.

I notice no one complains that chariots are flying about as they are hauled around by huge flocks of birds in their reviews, or complained that female assassins are riding massive poisonous snakes (can you say subliminal sexual innuendo) and as far as I’m aware…that’s never happened in history….EVER! So onward with this review!

So, no…this movie is not accurate (I think we’ve beaten that horse to death). It’s not even meant to be; my measure of this movie is…did I enjoy it? Did it keep my attention? Can my whole family watch it? Here are the answers. Yes, I enjoyed it. At times the writing was a bit shtick and I yawned a few times as things lagged in spots but over-all it moved at a decent pace and kept my attention.

Can my whole family watch it? Yes again, and this is a valuable thing in a film for parents. In our house we have a tradition of movie & popcorn night on the weekend, having a movie we can all enjoy is really important; especially one where I don’t have to worry about language and sexual content. Our nearly 13 year-old son absolutely loved this movie; he wants wings for Christmas now. He was riveted by the fight scenes, chases, and cool graphics.

Speaking of graphics, this movie really did do a great job with the cgi. The transformation from human form to God form with wings was absolutely seamless. It’s simply amazing what the animators can do these days!

Back to my review; is it a movie I would purchase? Probably not. I won’t go that far because it wasn’t that good, not unless I can get it at a bargain bin price just to make my son happy. It only gets 3 stars from me, good enough to rent and watch once but not one I’m keen to buy.

There’s something about this movie that reminds me of the movies “Pompeii” and “Exodus: Gods and Kings”. Hollywood seems to have this formula for using pretty weak stories, casting current stars in them and hoping that will be enough to generate revenue, well…as with this and the other two movies I mentioned that simply isn’t enough. Poor Kit Harrington was actually pretty good in “Pompeii” but the story was horribly weak and Christian Bale was horribly mis-cast in “Exodus” as was most of the cast but those movies seemed to be more of a vehicle to hopefully show-case the talent and both failed to do that.

“Gods of Egypt” to me feels like a Hollywood vehicle for Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. Once again they have cast a very current, “hot” Hollywood commodity and it just seems to fall flat. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy Nik’s work, he’s perfect for Jamie Lannister in Game of Thrones, but his heart really doesn’t seem to be in this role at all. Here he’s playing the God Horus but his performance feels lackluster. Why? Because they really didn’t give him much to work with. He does have his romantic moments with Hathor, but those are really the only stand out moments for his performance.

Gerard Butler is well…typical Gerard Butler. How many times have we seen him in a similar role? It’s old-tired-hat to see him do this once again. He isn’t “bad” in the role…it’s just a bit been there done that one too many times. I’m trying to think who I would have cast in place of him…I’m honestly not positive right now, but someone with more oomph to their attitude. Oh! Like perhaps Jason Momoa…he would have fit perfectly as Set.

The one actor I felt stood out a bit was Brenton Thwaite as the thief Bek. Once again he wasn’t given much to work with but his humor and timing really worked in his favor and made him fun to watch. But honestly, I don’t feel any of the actors were really given much to work with to make this movie really what it could have been. The story was promising, the writers just didn’t deliver….or, as is always possible, the good stuff ended up on the cutting room floor.

I recommend renting this one for yourself, I rented it through Amazon….watch it, make up your own mind and let me know what you think.