Trailer Review: Ridley Scott’s 'Exodus: Gods and Kings'; is Full of Biblical Spectacle

Charlie Greenwald ‘16 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer

Move over, Charlton Heston. There’s a new Moses in town. A new trailer has just been released for Ridley Scott’s Biblical epic, Exodus: Gods and Kings, which stars Oscar-winner Christian Bale as the sea-parting hero who frees the Israelites and leads them out of Egypt.
So what did we see in this trailer? We saw Scott’s taste for exceptional visuals. The bold 76-year-old director is not one to shy away from historical accuracy, and the pageantry and scenes look perfect for ancient Egypt. His intense, metallic costumes contrast nicely against gorgeous, majestic set pieces (the film was shot in the exotic Canary Islands and Almeria, Spain).

The trailer focuses primarily on the brotherhood, and subsequent fallout, between Moses (Bale) and Ramses (Joel Edgerton). It’s clear that the two are extremely close, until we see a shot of Moses in jail, presumably for his belief in monotheism, as opposed to Ramses and the Egyptian polytheism. The two trade evil looks and apparently swordfight as they ride horseback against each other’s armies.
We see a shot of a giant quarry stuffed with slaves, a glimpse of Ramses in a hailstorm (one of the ten plagues God sent to Egypt), as well as a man pouring water into a bloody river, another one of the plagues. We see Moses and Ramses riding chariots, shots that could be spliced together from opposite ends of the film – one from the Egyptians battling the Hittites as the beginning, and one from Ramses pursuing Moses as he leads the Hebrews to the Red Sea (which we also see at the very end).

We saw a bald, thickly-eyebrowed, entirely unrecognizable Joel Edgerton as Ramses, Scott regular Sigourney Weaver as Tuya, heard the voice of John Turturro as Seti, but did not see any of Ben Kingsley as Nun, nor Aaron Paul as Joshua.
The music in the trailer is a cover of the Simple Minds track “Belfast Child” by Sydney Wayser. The song was written about the conflicts in Northern Ireland, and there is no doubt that Scott chose the song due to its religious motifs.
The film looks like it has seriously lofty ambitions, with its cast of big stars, colorful aesthetics, and universally well-known religious story. It’s also written by Steven Zaillian, who wrote Schindler’s List, Moneyball, and more, and who collaborated with Scott previously on American Gangster. It’s going to be released in December, where Oscar darlings and holiday blockbusters collide. With a movie like this, there are only 3 possible outcomes: masterpiece, disaster, or disasterpiece. It’s too early to tell now, but it will be interesting to see how things turn out.

Watch The Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tuaPQdIGdQ