Out of proportion

By deliberate choice, I watched Exodus: Gods and Kings in its 2-D version this past weekend. I mention that partly in the interests of journalistic clarity, but also out of a continuing conviction that the 3-D process is, more often than not, little more than a gaudy and expensive accessory, with little real relevance to the requirements of genuine film drama.

The great exceptions to that tendency as of late include Martin Scorsese’s Hugo and Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity, both of which made the 3-D process integral to their respective central dramatic concerns, and to character and setting. Ridley Scott’s Exodus functions mostly like a big-budget exercise in grandiose technical display. The expansive high-angle aerial views of massive crowds of people, encamped or on the march, all have their roots in the biblical story, but their visual extravagance seems an end in itself here.

The 2-D version does get some nice 3-D effects the same way that Roadrunner cartoons, John Ford westerns and cinemascope epics have been doing it all along—through framing and camera movement. But the most conspicuous opportunities for 3-D—the plague episodes—seem blatantly exploitative, even in 2-D.

The script (credited to Scott and four co-writers) does make some scattered attempts at injecting something other than grand spectacle into the proceedings. That subtitle (Gods and Kings) signals the film’s most emphatic theme—men who think themselves kings, kings who think themselves gods. Spiritual struggles are given brief attention and evocations of the supernatural mostly get overwhelmed in the film’s heavy-handed displays of showmanship.

The movie’s Moses (Christian Bale) is no Charlton Heston, which probably ought to be a blessing, but there’s little that Bale is able to do with the script’s token, man-of-faith gestures. The film’s visualization of God is a particularly provocative bit of Midrash that ends up seeming more brazen than inspired.

There are a couple of sweetly old-fashioned declarations of love between Moses and his beloved Zipporah (María Vlverde) that are so out of keeping with most of the rest of the film that they become more interesting than they would otherwise have any right to be. But that too may not be enough to erase the abiding impression that Scott’s Exodus is mostly about militarism and deal-making.

An impressive supporting cast includes Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Ben Mendelsohn, Sigourney Weaver, Ewen Bremner and Ben Kingsley. Edgerton’s simpering machismo gets the most screen time (he plays Ramses), but the strongest impressions are made by Weaver (unshakeable dignity) and Bremner (shameless camping).