December 15, 2014 at 5:00 PM

I will try and give an honest assessment of this movie with very little spoilers.

Honestly, as movies go, this was a pretty good film. Ridley Scott created a very good historical piece. (I am not just saying that, because I am a Ridley Scott fanboy. Although we must give him some grace as he gave us the masterpiece that is Gladiator.) You felt like you were in Egypt. The characters seemed Egyptian. He even got the chariot construction correct. (I just saw a documentary of recreating the Pharaoh’s chariot.) It was a beautiful film, the CGI leant well to the supernatural events.

That is where I must leave this film. As far as a Biblical movie, it was not. Probably the worst Exodus movie I have seen, although Moses the Lawgiver is still pretty bad. As far as source material, it seems as though Ridley used the 10 Commandments and The Prince of Egypt movies as source material instead of the Bible. Now was I expecting a Biblical film? No. Even though it is a story from the Bible, I would say that to expect it to be anywhere near accurate is just wishful thinking these days. When we go and see a comic book movie or a movie based on a book, fans are expecting it to be somewhat accurate. We all realize that transforming the written word to the big screen is a challenge, but I find it interesting that Jews and Christians can’t expect the same accuracy as other movie genres fans. Taking into account areas where creative license is needed, such as what would God’s voice really sound like. IMHO I think Dreamworks nailed that one. Best burning bush scene ever. As it is, we have to just settle for the fact that someone took an interest in telling a tale and maybe hope that people will dig deeper to find the truth of the story. To that philosophy I will call it like it is: LAME! Now, as compared to that lame representation of a Bible story that was the movie Noah, at least Ridley actually put God in this film, albeit a poor representation, none-the-less God was actually in it.

For the record, taking a late date of Exodus will always leave directors with a dilemma. How do you keep from killing Ramses when the Red Sea comes crashing back in? Well, you won’t have that problem if you do your home work and stop using the late date. The late date doesn’t work anyway. The timeline going forward shrinks the book of Judges from a time period, which is supposed to be 400 years, down to like 120 years. Nope, doesn’t work. Evidence for the late date comes from Exodus 1:11, as it says the Israeli’s built the cities of Pithom and Raamses. They found monuments of Ramses II there, but that isn’t any real proof. He stuck monuments every where and even took credit for building things he didn’t really build. Also, Gen 47:11 says that the Israelis settled in the land of Ramses, which is the another name for the land of Goshen. This is where Rameses I got his name, because he came from this region. Anyway, the Pharaoh of the Exodus wasn’t Ramses. Probably Amenhotep II.

Now, which sounds better? ” Amenhotep, let my people go!” or “Ramses, let my people go!”. I dare say, the history here was decided by the big screen long ago in the movie 10 Commandments.

So, taking all that into account. I think Ridley Scott made a visually stunning, historically accurate, beautiful movie using some biblical character names. It was worth the $10. If you want the Exodus story, read the first 19 chapters of Exodus. It is worth the read!

Thanks to Olivia and Josh Heisey for their company in watching this film and for sticking around to discuss.

Have a great day!

If you would like more information on the dating of the Exodus, or other historical tidbits hit me up.