Ten years after its 2014 theatrical release, Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings remains one of the worst biblical epics ever made.

Much like with Noah, I approached this film from a Modern Orthodox Jewish perspective. I did not think much of this film when I first watched it in theaters a decade ago, even entering the screening with low expectations. Ten years later, not much has changed. This time around, I knew it was going to be a bad movie. How did we get so lucky to have two very bad biblical films in 2014?!? It’s rhetorical–don’t answer it. Asking me to get through this review without linking to Chabad.org or Sefaria is impossible. The latter is probably one of the greatest gifts for anyone with an interest in studying Jewish texts. Because of Nittel Nacht customs, I purposely delayed publication of my review until this morning.

You already know you’re in for a bad film when the synopsis cannot even display correct information. The synopsis says 400,000 slaves. Exodus 12:37 states there were 600,000 men of fighting age plus noncombatants. My best guess is somewhere between 2-3 million took part in the Exodus from Egypt. How can films get this so wrong?!?

The take that the screenwriters have is Moses showing courage in being a defiant leader taking on Rameses II (Joel Edgerton) and the Egyptian empire. Unfortunately, Aaron (Andrew Tarbet) has a minimal r0le at best. You know it is an awful sign when the actor portraying Aaron is not in the main credits. Aaron should be standing at Moses’s side whenever he’s speaking with Rameses II or to the Children of Israel. It explicitly states this in Exodus 4:16. Meanwhile, the film gets it wrong that Zipporah (Maria Valverde) stays behind with Gershom. Speaking of, where is Eliezer in all of this? Moses and Zipporah had two sons at this time! Initially, Moses travels with his family but it’s upon meeting Aaron that they are sent back to Midian–confirmed by Rashi’s commentary to Exodus 18:2., citing Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael.

If there’s one thing that just about every movie dealing with Moses gets wrong, it’s not paying attention to Exodus 4:10.

But Moses said to G-d, “Please, O my lord, I have never been a man of words, either in times past or now that You have spoken to Your servant; I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

For all the flaws that Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments has, this film is worse. Epically worse. It isn’t just the casting decisions that make this film so terrible. The screenplay is awful straight from the get-go. Between the Torah and rabbinic commentaries, we know so much about Moses, let alone how he is the greatest prophet ever. He is the only person to ever see the back of G-d’s face. But in this film, the script takes a blasphemous approach to their relationship by having a kid, Malak (Isaac Andrews), stand-in as a messenger for G-d. It even goes against what the Torah says in Exodus 3:2, especially Ramban’s commentary. Rabbi David Baron consulted on the film and acknowledged that it would create a controversy. He certainly is not wrong. The rabbi went on record as saying The Ten Commandments Splitting of the Sea is closer to reality.

There are so many issues with the casting. Too many people look…white. They could have done a better job in ethnically portraying both the Israelites, for starters. Christian Bale as Moses, really?!? I didn’t even buy him for a second. Joel Edgerton as Rameses? It’s a stretch. Even in doing some quick research, there’s not much of a common consensus about the Egyptians and their skin color. An article in Slate states the following:

The Egyptians typically painted representations of themselves with light brown skin, somewhere between the fair-skinned people of the Levant and the darker Nubian people to the south.

As far as plagues and the Splitting of the Sea, Scott and company opt for natural events rather than acts of G-d. Obviously, technological advances play in the favor of depicting the plagues on screen. This is the part where DeMille would probably be the most envious. Putting together the Splitting of the Sea was state of the art for its time. Nowadays, one can probably do a mixture of visual effects shots and CGI. Regardless, there are serious issues throughout the entire film. When Moses is exiled, he is supposed to already have a staff with him. Or maybe this what I’ve been taught to think because of DeMille. Unfortunately, he leaves with just a sword. There is never an instance where he throws the rod on the ground and it turns into a snake.

How does the scene with the Ten Commandments fare? There’s no thunder or glory whatsoever? It goes completely against the text, whether it is the first or second set of tablets. G-d gives Moses the first set of tablets according to Exodus 24:12. This is the set that Moses breaks on 17 Tammuz upon seeing the golden calf. The Torah tells things out of order but what we know from Exodus 31:18 is that the tablets are inscribed with the finger of G-d, not Moses.

There’s a universe where telling the Exodus story should have been a theatrical event. Maybe there’s one where Warner Bros. and Steven Spielberg go forward on their Exodus movie? Spielberg withdrew in early 2013. Unfortunately, this film is horrifically bad that it is not even funny. In all honesty, I shouldn’t have even watched for an anniversary review because it just makes me so angry that they cannot even tell a story that is somewhat biblically accurate. The treatment that Aaron gets in this film is even more dismal than his portrayal in The Prince of Egypt. Not even Netflix docudrama series Testament: The Story of Moses is safe from flaws. Exodus: Gods and Kings might just take the cake for being the worst biblical epic ever made in cinematic history. Is it too hard to ask for an accurate film? This doesn’t seem like too hard of an ask.

DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott
SCREENWRITER: Adam Cooper & Bill Collage and Jeffrey Caine and Steven Zaillian
CAST: Christian Bale, Joel Edgerton, John Turturro, Aaron Paul, Ben Mendelsohn, Maria Valverde, with Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley, Isaac Andrews, Hiam Abbass, Indria Varma, Ewen Bremner, Golshifteh Farahani, Ghassan Massoud, Tara Fitzgerald

20th Century Fox released Exodus: Gods and Kings in theaters on December 12, 2014. Grade: 1/5

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