GODS OF EGYPT (2016) MOVIE NEWS & REVIEW

gods of egypt (2016) movie

Genre               |   Fantasy

Classification   |   M

Running time   |   127 minutes

Released         |   25 February 2016

cast

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Horus
Brenton Thwaites as Bek
Gerard Butler as Set
Courtney Eaton as Zaya
​Bryan Brown as Osiris

director

Alex Proyas

writer

​Matt Sazama ... (written by)
Burk Sharpless ... (written by)

cinematographer

​Peter Menzies Jr.

music

Marco Beltrami

film editor

​Richard Learoyd

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box office result

Worldwide             $150,680,864 ​ 

Australia                 $​​1,871,004 ​

North America        $​31,153,464  

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the best dialogue

Set: [about to be killed] Wait! I spared your life, didn't I?
Horus: I won't make that mistake.

Ra: [to Horus] I do not approve of Set's rule. But I doubt yours would be much better.

Ra: [to Set] If your tower were any higher, it would get in my way.

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GODS OF EGYPT (2016) IMAGES

GODS OF EGYPT (2016) STORY SYNOPSIS

​Magic, monsters, gods and madness reign throughout the palaces and pyramids of the Nile River Valley in this action-adventure inspired by the classic mythology of Egypt. With the survival of mankind hanging in the balance, an unexpected hero takes a thrilling journey to save the world and rescue his true love. Set (Gerard Butler), the merciless god of darkness, has usurped Egypt’s throne, plunging the once peaceful and prosperous empire into chaos and conflict. With only a handful of heroic rebels opposing Set’s savage rule, Bek (Brenton Thwaites), a bold and defiant mortal, enlists the aid of powerful god Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in an unlikely alliance against the evil overlord. As their breathtaking battle against Set and his henchmen take them into the afterlife and across the heavens, both god and mortal must pass tests of courage and sacrifice if they hope to prevail in the spectacular final confrontation.

GODS OF EGYPT (2016) MOVIE REVIEW

Reviewed by Mark Geraghty   |   Review date 25 February 2016
​Pop Movee Rating ⭐⭐

The on again, off again Hollywood career of Director Alex Proyas is - once again - back on with his latest film, GODS OF EGYPT. Ancient Egyptian fare is always dangerous territory, especially in a story that relies on the audience believing that Gods and Humans once cohabited together in the cradle of civilisation. The result is a mixed affair that comes out slightly better than average. GODS OF EGYPT is not an outright hit, but nor is it a disaster.

No one in the cast is taking anything too seriously (except perhaps for Bryan Brown), as Proyas gives his talent free-reign to chew the scenery. Shot at the 20th Century Fox Studios in Sydney, GODS OF EGYPT also utilises a great deal of Australian post-production talent to bring the story to the screen. For the most part, GODS OF EGYPT is a credible fantasy film, never stopping too long to contemplate matters and delivering the viewer only as much information as is absolutely necessary for the story to have some kind of internal logic.

 The script marks a step-up for relative newcomers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, whose DRACULA UNTOLD (2014) and THE LAST WITCH HUNTER (2015) both showed some promise but were overwhelmed by a mass of CGI in their finales. GODS OF EGYPT has a similar predilection with CGI, but under the more experienced direction of Proyas, there’s a better balance between the live-action and the visual effects than either of those two films.

Sazama and Sharpless take the fundamental elements of the Ancient Egyptian Osiris myth and provide their own version, introducing Bek (Brenton Thwaites), a young human who helps Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in his bid to reclaim his kingdom after his Uncle Set (Gerard Butler) has killed Horus’s father, Osiris (Bryan Brown), and usurped the throne. Bek is motivated by the need to strike a deal with Horus in exchange for bringing the young man’s love, Zaya (Courtney Eaton) back from the dead after being struck down by an arrow from her disgruntled master, Urshu (Rufus Sewell). ​

Once the story moves past the exposition of the First Act, GODS OF EGYPT kicks up a gear and becomes an entertaining popcorn extravaganza, with multiple set-pieces involving every character.

The weakest element of the story is Gerard Butler’s Set. Whenever he pops up in the action, the pace and intensity feels like it drops a notch. He makes no effort to mask his Scottish accent and it has a jarring effect on his scenes, especially those toward the end of the film with Geoffrey Rush, who plays his father, the Sun God Ra.

It should be noted that GODS OF EGYPT has already been taken-to-task by a number of individuals and organisations for its “white-washing” of the cast and Butler’s delivery of his lines will do little to soothe the frustrations of those who singled this movie out or the wider call for Diversity within the American film industry; especially Hollywood studios.

As far as the rest of the cast goes, the stand-out performances are delivered by Coster-Waldau and Thwaites, as the unlikely duo who set out to release Egypt from the yoke of oppression brought by Set’s rule. The pair are very well supported by Elodie Yung, as Hathor the Goddess of Love.

Chadwick Boseman, who will appear as Black Panther in Marvel’s upcoming CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR (2016), has a supporting role as Thoth, the God of “Reason”. (In Egyptian mythology Thoth apparently played many prominent roles...) Veteran character actor Bruce Spence even pops up toward the end of the film and it’s a credit to Proyas that he has cast mainly Australian actors for his key roles and has used many other local companies to bring GODS OF EGYPT to the screen.

​Viewers looking for a couple of hours worth of cinematic distraction won’t be disappointed by the film. There’s the usual mayhem and destruction of a Hollywood blockbuster during the film’s climax, but it’s pretty tame compared to what audiences have been used to over the last few years from big budget fantasy/science fiction/comic book/action movies. If you’re still looking for a reason to catch it at the cinema once you get to this sentence, go and see it just to be patriotic and support Australians film talent!

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