Gods of Egypt

Gods of Egypt – When Horus’ father, Osiris, is murdered by his uncle, Set, the ensuing fight leaves him with his eyes removed and him fleeing into exile. He is called upon to fight once more by human, Bek, whose lover has been killed an who makes a deal with Horus to bring her back to life. With the odds seemingly stacked against them, Horus and Bek set out to find as many allies as they can before it’s too late to save Bek’s love and Set’s evil plan is put into motion.

Gods of Egypt (2016) – Director: Alex Proyas

By Source, Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=47787357

Rating: 12

Running Length: 127 mins

Starring: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brenton Thwaites, Gerard Butler

Genre: Action/Adventure, Fantasy

REVIEW: GODS OF EGYPT

‘Gods of Egypt’ doesn’t do anything by halves; from the giant gods, their liquid gold blood and the excessive use of CGI, it is clear from the very beginning that we’re in for over-the-top daftness! While most movies based on ancient Egypt tend to focus on Pharaohs, the authorities to grovel before in ‘Gods of Egypt’ are the eponymous gods (and goddesses) themselves, who walk the Earth with barely a passing thought to the humans beneath them. This means that for a human to stand out to them, they must be incredibly special and unfortunately this role goes to the plucky but bland Brenton Thwaites who plays Bek. His love for the equally bland Zaya (Courtney Eaton) is never as convincing as it needs to be.

Despite the human protagonist struggling to carry his portion of the story, thankfully more acting clout is given by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (the comically arrogant Horus) and Gerard Butler (charismatic but menacing Set). The over-use of CGI could work for such an over the top film but such effects are shockingly poor quality and become unintentionally comical at times, thus taking the suspension of disbelief several steps too far. There are also too many times when something is explicitly stated as being impossible before a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it half-explanation that enables this exact thing to happen less then 5 minutes later. Bek’s street smarts are fun to watch but the sequence where he breezes through the impossible traps set to stop thieves stealing Horus’ eyes is disappointingly quick and easy.

However, although there is plenty to criticise about ‘Gods of Egypt’, what it never does is try to be too serious. It doesn’t shy away from how ridiculous it is and neither do any of its cast. It’s a movie that will never be a classic but what it will be is a spectacle to behold while munching on gallons of popcorn.

CONTENT: IS ‘GODS OF EGYPT’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

Horus wakes up the morning after a big party. He is half naked and is fawned over by scantily clad servant girls. He is clearly hung over and stumbles through a room which is full of half-naked sleeping party goers and a dead lion hangs from the ceiling, it’s tongue lolling out and a spear through its torso. He relaxes in a pool and a servant girl begins to massage his shoulders, without his knowledge, another woman takes over and begins to move her hands down the front of his body. He jumps and tells her that she doesn’t ‘have to do that’ before realising the hand belongs to his lover so he playfully pulls her into the water and kisses her.

A beloved character is unexpectedly stabbed and murdered, their loved ones are shocked and devastated; one attempts to fight the killer and after exchanging lots of heavy blows, they are overpowered, held down and have both eyes gouged out. This is done on camera although the attackers hands are mostly in the way. The character cries out in pain, the eyes (which are simply two glowing spheres) are shown in close-up and the character has some blood trickling around the sockets, however as the character is a god, his blood is made of liquid gold and therefore isn’t gory.

A male and female character lie naked in bed together. Another character walks into the room and is irritated about their ‘fornicating’.

The camera sweeps over a large battle, soldiers fight with swords but nothing graphic is shown. A character is seen to speak to a former loved one but he attacks her and cuts off a part of her body off camera as she screams. She is a goddess and the body part is non-human however this sudden act of violence could be upsetting for kids.

A loyal fighter returns to his master, badly wounded, after failing a mission. After the master listens to the story of what happened, he kindly tells him to get his wound seen to. The fighter is grateful but as he begins to walk away, his master suddenly chops off his head. The head is shown in close-up but is not overly gory.

A character speaks of their parents’ deaths saying that after his father’s death, ‘His body was cut into 14 pieces, they never found his heart’ and his mother ‘Took her own life’.

In the underworld, a woman approaches a precipice where souls are taken once their worldly goods are weighed are judged – the more wealth, the better the reward will be in death. The woman died a pauper and has nothing to add to the scales. She then walks to the edge and screams as her body disintegrates entirely. The person next in line is an established character and is equally poor so it is clear that unless something miraculous happens, their fate will be the same.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘GODS OF EGYPT’ FOR KIDS?

There may be plenty wrong with ‘Gods of Egypt’ but there’s also a lot to enjoy as long it’s more fun action than high art that you’re looking for. As much of the content skirts the line and falls more in the ‘child-friendly’ bracket, we feel this movie is appropriate for kids aged 8 and over.

• Violence: 2/5 (some major fight scenes but nothing overly gory happens and most of the more graphic moments involve gods whose blood is made of liquid gold and therefore not too strong)
• Emotional Distress: 1/5 (there are a few deaths of major characters, however they are not too emotional and there is hope for some of them to return to life)
• Fear Factor: 2/5 (the character Set is menacing and is very willing to kill anyone to get what he wants)
• Sexual Content: 2/5 (female characters often wear very revealing clothing)
• Bad Language: 0/5
• Dialogue: 1/5
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of Egyptian mythology, ambition, disability, tenacity, working to your strengths, deciding what’s truly important, taking on responsibilities and doing anything to save the life of a loved one.

Words by Laura Record

[amazon_link asins=’B01HBRYBPO’ template=’ProductCarousel’ store=’isthimovsui-21′ marketplace=’UK’ link_id=’879c018f-5fed-401e-9340-14f31120ab16′]