Exodus: Gods & Kings

(M) ★★★★

Director: Ridley Scott.

Cast: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, Aaron Paul, Ben Mendelsohn, John Turturro, Ben Kingsley, Sigourney Weaver.

Elton John's Oscars after-party was off its tits.

With the arrival of Noah and Exodus this year, it's tempting to see 2014 as the year of the biblical epic.

But two films doesn't count as a trend. However, it does give us an interesting point of comparison.

Whereas Darren Aronofksy took a largely secular route in his animal-packed ark, Ridley Scott mostly takes the Bible as gospel (pardon the pun) in his retelling of Moses leading the Hebrews out of slavery.

After an opening battle scene that's more like a chapter of Wilbur Smith than a verse of the Old Testament, we get to know Moses (Bale) and Ramesses II (Edgerton) - brothers in arms in the Egyptian military as well as princes of Egypt.

But Moses soon learns he is adopted and that his real mother was a Hebrew - a group of people enslaved by the Egyptians - causing friction between Moses and Ramesses II and leading to Moses being exiled.

After wandering through the desert, getting married and raising a son, Moses suffers a severe head injury, leading him to believe God has instructed him to return to Egypt, free the slaves and lead the hundreds of thousands of Hebrews home to the promised land of Canaan (Israel).

Unlike Aronofsky, who took the "this could have happened" approach with Noah, Scott revels in the grand myth-making of the Exodus story, seeing no need to find a rational explanation for what goes on, instead embracing the fantastical elements as if he was adapting Lord Of The Rings or Harry Potter (it's worth pointing out that the historical and archaeological consensus is that there is a distinct lack of evidence of the exodus actually happening).

With the full arsenal of computer wizardry at his disposal, Scott parts the Red Seas and unleashes an onslaught of plagues in suitably epic fashion. They are the dramatic and visual high points of the film - never before has the wrath of God been rendered so vividly and spectacularly.

Speaking of the Almighty, God is portrayed in fascinating fashion. I won't spoil it but there are many discussions to be had focusing on how the Supreme Being is depicted in this film, including the non-spoilerific fact that Old Testament God was, it has to be said, kind of a jerk (and that might be putting it mildly).

The other highlight is the performances. Bale's Moses, like Russell Crowe's Noah, is portrayed in the grey areas between mad man and prophet, but Bale's typical intensity really takes it up a notch, helping make Moses a complex man dealing with something he doesn't fully understand (and which may indeed be largely in his head).

Equally impressive is Edgerton, in what is hopefully a break-out role for the Aussie actor. His pharaoh is stubborn, dismissive and slightly vainglorious, but Edgerton keeps it all in check, never resorting to chewing the scenery.

The other standard performances come from youngster Isaac Andrews and Aussie Mendelsohn, with the latter stealing his scenes as an incompetent Egyptian viceroy.

Exodus takes itself very seriously but manages to stay on the right side of melodrama, thus avoiding the ever-present danger of tipping into "accidental Life Of Brian" territory.

There may be a sensation that the film is all noise and no heart, that its CG extravaganzas overwhelm the bigger moral issues, but there is plenty of food for thought in this tale of fanaticism, desperation, fear, and the greater good.

It also happens to be Scott's best film since Gladiator.