Gods of Egypt

There's simply no justice in this world. This world where safe, sanitary entertainment is king. This world where audacity is roundly mocked and true vision garners sneers of contempt. Alex Proyas has made something ridiculous with his ancient Egyptian VFX extravaganza, Gods of Egypt. He's also made a visionary piece of summer blockbustasia. Weighed against the sterile ephemera slipping into and out of theaters today, Gods of Egypt proves its worth.

It is not Egypt-the geographic region in Northern Africa-that is represented in Gods of Egypt. Maybe this is an important point to consider for those puritanical air wasters who successfully raised a fuss over this film's racial demographics. It is a mythical Egypt where ten-foot-tall humanoid gods live among their creations. The fuss is moot. One of these gods is Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Horus, the heir to Egypt. Another is Set (Gerard Butler) the jealous uncle who wants what any jealous movie uncle wants; power over the kingdom. The very basic adventure outline even makes room for a thieving street rat and his puppy dog romance. This story isn't going to surprise, move, or enlighten anybody. But you know what? Neither will Captain America 5.

Coster-Waldau is a serviceable hero; Brenton Thwaites is a serviceable sidekick. But Gerard Butler is the most entertaining of the cast. Butler has softened into one of our most lovable movie rogues in recent years, but we forget that his break out role was as 300's King Leonidas; a hyper-masculine icon. With Set, Butler gets another go at straight savagery, and he's as committed to the character as any he's played. There are other fine actors present; all of whom get a chance to look or sound patently preposterous. To give you an idea, Geoffrey Rush shows up with a white ponytail and a flaming headdress to shoot sun bombs at a cloud with teeth. But who cares about the actors? This ain't 12 Angry Men.

A movie like this, without imagination, is Avengers: Infinity War. Bland, weightless, flat, grey, tepid, digital runoff. It's true that Gods of Egypt is stuffed with computer generated effects, digital backgrounds, lots of action, and wall to wall green screen. But there is a vision behind all the effects, and that is an all-important distinction. Alex Proyas has a passion for image-making. It's a through line in his career. In Gods of Egypt, he uses special effects not to expedite or enhance, but to create. There is a tendency to think of all CGI, all action, as the same. That's not true. Gods of Egypt uses CGI to CGI's best cinematic potential; to create worlds, wonders, images that spring right from the imagination of the filmmaker. You can see in the crowds of thousands, in the surrealist landscapes, and in the striking ancient-Egypt-on-LSD architecture, that there is a real filmmaker at work here. There is creativity on display. Wild unhinged visions of a world that only exists within Gods of Egypt's two hours.

I don't want to be carried away by hyperbole. Just because Gods of Egypt is visionary, doesn't mean it's great. In the end, this is still a modern VFX blockbuster, complete with many of the smaller problems that entails. There is ample room for bathroom breaks when the action stops and the dutiful business of humor, exposition, and "true love" is addressed. But it is hard not to go to the mat for a VFX blockbuster that actually amazed and delighted me. Gods of Egypt debunks the theory that huge CGI summer spectaculars are inherently stale. With a director that doesn't care about looking silly, blockbusters can still be astonishing. Gods of Egypt is a great blockbuster. I had genuine fun. Not a manufactured, conglomerate approved good time, but an actual imagination high you can only get by experiencing a work of passion and artistry.

79/100.

Already from the trailer alone, you know that this is going to be a special effects movie. And with that in mind, you might already be setting yourself up for a movie that doesn't really require much thinking from you as an audience.

Well, that is partially true actually. The movie is a spectacular display of visual effects, both in CGI and props. And these dazzling effects do carry the movie a great long way, I will say that much. And the story, while it is simplistic, actually did turn out to be entertaining. Sure, it wasn't a brain challenger, not by a long shot, but you know what you are getting into with "Gods of Egypt".

While we are on the CGI and special effects, then I must admit that it was the selling point for me, because I was blown away how they had managed to bring ancient Egypt and their ancient Pantheon to life with today's CGI and special effects.

As for the cast, well, they could have opted for someone a bit more thespian, considering the talents of both Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau and Gerard Butler. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that they did it poorly. Actually far from it, but they are more of a physical kind of acting in terms of action, more than they are set in ways of deeper character portraying through acting.

There is a lot of action throughout the entire movie, and you are constantly being bombarded with visual effects, to the point where it brims on being over-used. But it worked for me.

If you enjoy a good fantasy movie with roots in actual ancient history, then "Gods of Egypt" is definitely worth your time and money. I do think, however, that "Gods of Egypt" is the type of movie that you can watch every now and again with some years in between each watching.

I am rating "Gods of Egypt" a well-deserved seven out of ten stars. This was good, wholesome entertainment wrapped up in a visually impressive package.

Not as bad as i thought it was going to be, but the casting was a major issue. Why didn't the gods of EGYPT look EGYPTIAN? The earth's place in the cosmos and the lore was neat and interesting. But the overuse of CG took away from it and the ending was cheesy. The giant snakes were pretty cool though.

The film is a good Fantasy that has a decent story and allot of action. Effects are pretty good and suited the Egyptian vibe.

There was a bit of cheese here and there and it is not a film with great depth, but the acting was pretty good.

Not sure why it got such bad reviews, I can only suspect it was the political correct media who did not like the fact it had white actors playing all the main Gods (which some believe the ancient Egyptian elites were in fact Caucasian anyway, which is a debate) And also it may not pamper to the growing and irritating Femiwood thing, as it was strong men leading the roles, and with effeminate women, a little traditional in that sense. So it would not surprise me if all this was the true motivation behind its poor media reaction, which is a shame.

It was not the greatest fantasy there is, But its a decent film that had a bit of originality to it and if they done a squeal I would be happy to go see it.

Before I watched this movie, I heard about the negative reviews about it. I read that the CGI was awful and that acting was terrible.

I must say people are too quick to criticize. This movie has a unique style and that is what made a lot of people to judge very quickly.

This movie is not a realistic or historical representation of Egypt and it never tries to be. It is more of a picture of how gods would look like and with a taste of magic and dream. The fact that gods are portrayed twice the size of humans should be the first sign of this style.

The color palette chosen for the movie is beautiful focusing on yellow of gold and brown of sand. This coupled with the vibrant and warm colors of the environments and set pieces create a delightful picture to watch.

The story is interesting to follow as it unfolds right from the beginning of the movie with a clash between two brothers. As it is common in these kind of stories, the bad and the good characters are easy to see from the beginning.

The CGI is mostly good and not as bad as it is called out by some people. The creatures are nicely created and the effects are mostly good with the exception of fire/explosion effects. There were times they felt a bit cheap considering the big budget of 140 million dollars of the movie.

I really like the humorous conversations between Bek (Brenton Thwaites) and Horus(Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau), the god of sky. Brenton's character really added a much appreciated tone of fun to the movie and made me feel that familiar sense of feeling of similar movies like Prince of Persia(2010). Actually this movie has some resemblance even to the video game of Prince of Persia for example with the design of creature/guardians. Anyway Brenton Thwaites really puts a good performance and I am curious to see what he will be able to do in the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.

Gerard Butler fulfills his familiar role of war leader very well as expected, of course he is no stranger to these roles.

Nikolaj Coaster-Waldau does a great job portraying his character Horus as well. Although it would be nicer to see a bit more of his character's background.

Overall this movie offers a fun, humorous, entertaining story in a fantasy world filled with magical powers of gods and hatred and love. This movie is bold, vibrant and fast, it's a shame some people couldn't see beyond the distinct choice of style, which I personally found interesting.