Blu-Ray/DVD Review: ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’

Director Ridley Scott makes movies on a grand scale.

And “Exodus: Gods and Kings” is definitely one of them.

Scott brings the Biblical tale of Moses to the screen, which features two and a half hours of beautifully composed visual effects and environments for the movie. This alternative story is not the literal story from the Bible or a historical version either. It is a version that Scott tries to entertain with another look at Moses.

The film has an all-star cast with Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Ben Kingsley, John Turturro, Sigourney Weaver and Aaron Paul.

In this version of Moses, he was an Egyptian general who was betrayed by the Pharoah Rameses after a prophecy was made. He was sentenced to be an outcast in the desert. It took Moses many years later to develop a relationship with Malak (turns out to be God in a child form), who asked him to help lead 400,000 slaves to their freedom.

Scott’s strong suit shows in the cinematography if filmmaking. The landscapes, cities and valleys are impressive as he mixes many things on a production set and CGI. He continues to be the master of his art.

“Exodus: Gods and Kings” do meet with the similar fate with Scott’s other films like “Prometheus” and “The Counselor” in terms of so-so dialogue and storyline. Relationships between God and Moses, Moses and Ramses or Moses with everyone else seem muddled throughout the film. And its attempt of humor sometimes seems out of place.

However, for film aficionados, “Exodus: Gods and Kings” have impressive featurettes to satisfy any collector.

The Blu-ray/DVD and VODs has a long audio commentary from Scott and co-screenwriter Jeffery Caine as you watch the movie. Scott provides a lot of tidbits from the production at Pinewood Studios and using CGI to create the magnificent backgrounds of the film. He even rehashed some footage from his previous “Prometheus” film to showcase in this movie. And Caine provides more explanation to the story in regards the accuracy and research taken into the account.

The most impressive features will be the “Enhancement Pods,” which are the behind the scenes production videos. With fourteen videos totaling in more than 44-minutes in length, they reveal many special effects magic on a Ridley Scott set. They include weapon making, costumes, sculptures and the magic of recreating the Plagues of Egypt.

A huge bonus is that it includes pre-production notes from Ridley Scott as it tells the entire story in a storyboard format. Then during production behind the scene video, Scott used Google Glass to document his filmmaking style in his personal point of view. It’s very interesting to watch on how this great director works.

The package will include nearly fifteen minutes of deleted and extended scenes that didn’t make it into the movie. There are also plenty of slideshow photos, trailers other media in the marketing of the film.

“Exodus: Gods and Kings” will be available tomorrow on Blu-ray, DVD and currently available as VOD and on iTunes.

The review was based off the iTunes HD download, which features the film and all the features for the product.

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