I hadn’t seen the trailer before I went in to watch this movie, and when it began, I honestly thought, “the same story all over again,” horrified at the prospect of spending the following two hours of my life watching the same legent I knew oh so well from The Prince of Egypt. But surprisingly enough, I liked the movie. I definitely don’t think that very religious people would be too fond of it, but for the reasons I don’t imagine they would have enjoyed it, I did.
Exodus took a much more critical stance on the well known legent, making Moses the voice of modern day logic and reason. He clearly asked the awkward questions such as “Why help 400 years later and not earlier?”, “Who is this punishing?” and “Isn’t this too cruel?”, which, to be honest, have to be asked in relation to this legent. There was no slipping into blind worshipping, and this more questioning and reasonable stance is what really appealed to me.
Also, it’s hard to make a movie that includes so many miracles without throwing it right into the fantasy genre, but somehow this was avoided in Exodus. The sequence of the miracles was made in a very logical order so as to seem that there is almost nothing miraculous about them… simply, poor luck. Even the great splitting of the sea waters was made somewhat realistically, as it took some time and its threat of closing was there and possible for Hebrews and Egyptians alike.
Of course, the story was somewhat Americanised with its emphasis of Moses as a warrior, which strolls away from the original legend, but I guess it was to an extend essential to the story that he knows how to fight and strategize. It was definitely something I could have done without, but it didn’t really spoil the story for me.
Lastly, I think the directors really pushed their boundaries by portraying God as a child. It was fine by me, but again, I don’t think that religious people would be too fond of the movie as a whole, and this detail just adds to it.
Personally, I enjoyed it. I have recommended it to many friends and would recommend it to anyone who wouldn’t be offended by the different viewpoint that the movie presents.
Exodus took a much more critical stance on the well known legent, making Moses the voice of modern day logic and reason. He clearly asked the awkward questions such as “Why help 400 years later and not earlier?”, “Who is this punishing?” and “Isn’t this too cruel?”, which, to be honest, have to be asked in relation to this legent. There was no slipping into blind worshipping, and this more questioning and reasonable stance is what really appealed to me.
Also, it’s hard to make a movie that includes so many miracles without throwing it right into the fantasy genre, but somehow this was avoided in Exodus. The sequence of the miracles was made in a very logical order so as to seem that there is almost nothing miraculous about them… simply, poor luck. Even the great splitting of the sea waters was made somewhat realistically, as it took some time and its threat of closing was there and possible for Hebrews and Egyptians alike.
Of course, the story was somewhat Americanised with its emphasis of Moses as a warrior, which strolls away from the original legend, but I guess it was to an extend essential to the story that he knows how to fight and strategize. It was definitely something I could have done without, but it didn’t really spoil the story for me.
Lastly, I think the directors really pushed their boundaries by portraying God as a child. It was fine by me, but again, I don’t think that religious people would be too fond of the movie as a whole, and this detail just adds to it.
Personally, I enjoyed it. I have recommended it to many friends and would recommend it to anyone who wouldn’t be offended by the different viewpoint that the movie presents.