Published by: Anthony Wallace
When Horus is about to be crowned King of Egypt, his uncle Set turns on his fellow brother to take over and rule the land. As the Gods are hunted down one by one until Set is the only King, a mere mortal in Bek sets out to help Horus and return Egypt to greatness. The film is directed by Alex Proyas and stars Gerard Butler, Brenton Thwaites, and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
Going into ‘Gods of Egypt‘, Alex Proyas is known for having success with ‘I, Robot‘, ‘Dark City‘, and even ‘The Crow‘. Those films had visual appeal that going into this movie I was looking forward to another showcase. If one were to find out this movie had a production of $140 million* you would be in disbelief. How or where the money went to produce a poorly edited, poor effects, and a lackluster script made ‘Gods of Egypt’ a big budget mess.
The opening of the movie was eye catching as the narrator introduces us to the groundwork. It’s here we find Gerard Butler as Set confront Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) after the death of Horus’s father. With exposition in place we are led on a long and treacherous journey where the movie ultimately fails. With actors like Butler and Thwaites we’d expect a decent experience where entertainment would be a given. So much effort was put on the special effects that there was barely a script to follow. The dialogue from some of the actors must have been hard to muster because it didn’t make any sense nor was it funny when it wanted to be.
With performances aside the money grabber is on the effects. Yet with so much invested the outcome is horrendous. Where things went wrong is something Director Alex Proyas would have to explain because there wasn’t a justified effect that stood out. The only effect that would have worked had it been done right was how the Gods were depicted when they transformed from human form to shielded giants. If the special effects were spot on the action scenes would have been amazing; especially the fighting sequences between Set and Horus.
Along with a bad script and poor effects, we also get a 127 minute runtime that isn’t justified. The movie could have easily been cut down to 90 minutes as there were countless scenes of dialogue or action sequences that were put in the script for the sake of keeping audience’s attention. It’s to no surprise an embargo was put in place with no early screenings for critics that ‘Gods of Egypt‘ was doomed upon release. This is a huge let down from Summit Entertainment that sees Alex Proyas with a less than stellar entry to his portfolio.
Rating: 4/10
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*Source: Box Office Mojo
The Cinema Score 