Mr. Movie: Big sets, small plot in ‘Gods of Egypt’
Gods of Egypt is the second major release in a couple of years to receive scathing criticism for using an all-white cast to play characters whose ethnicity is not Caucasian. Exodus: Gods and Kings got the same treatment. And we’ve all heard about the Oscar boycott along the same lines.
Director Alex Proyas apologized in advance for the error in judgment. Few of us really care about the casting;, an apology for the draggy third act seems more appropriate.
Proyas (The Crow) casts Gerard Butler as the Egyptian god Set, who wants to be crowned the kingdom’s king. At the time, Set’s nephew Horus — played by Game of Thornes star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau — is to be crowned king, Set enacts a coup and kills his brother god Osiris, plucks Horus’ eyes out and takes over.
A quick and clever mortal — wanting to save his girlfriend from eternal death — steps in to help Horus reclaim his kingdom and save Egypt.
The sets — no pun intended — are awesome as are the effects. I didn’t see this in 3-D, but imagine it to be nothing short of spectacular. But sets and effects can’t carry a movie. Where Proyas and his writers Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless (Dracula Untold) fail is making a film that pretty much looks like every other god-versus-mortal movie.
Gods of Egypt
Director: Alex Proyas
Stars: Gerard Butler, Nikolas Coster-Waldau, Elodie Yung, Courtney Eaton, Brenton Thwaites, Geoffrey Rush, Rufus Sewel
Mr. Movie rating: 2 1/2 stars
Rated PG-13 for mature themes and violence. It’s playing at the Carmike 12, the Fairchild Cinemas 12 and the Queensgate 12 and at Walla Walla Grand Cinemas.
5 stars to 4 1/2 stars: Must see on the big screen.
4 stars to 3 1/2 stars: Good film, see it if it’s your type of movie.
3 stars to 2 1/2 stars: Wait until it comes out on DVD.
2 stars to 1 star: Don’t bother.
0 stars: Speaks for itself.
This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 12:33 PM with the headline "Mr. Movie: Big sets, small plot in ‘Gods of Egypt’."