Gods of Egypt

Zach Goodier

Gods of Egypt is an action/adventure film starring GoT’s Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Horus, the god of air, and Brenton Thwaites as Bek, a mortal thief seeking to right wrongs committed against him, and against all humans. Gerard Butler plays Set, who usurps the throne in order to rule over all of creation. Horus, who fought Set, had his eyes taken when he was beaten, leading to his exile. Bek, sometime later, breaks into Set’s vault and steals the eye in order to help Horus take the throne and save Egypt from Set’s cruel rule.

One look at this pic and you should realize Horus is another Lannister.

What ensues sounds great on paper, but quickly begins to fall somewhat flat. Nikolaj does a great job as Horus, but he basically follows the Jaime Lannister pattern of being an elitist D-bag early on, who then suffers a massive setback that leaves him helpless, before going through an on-screen gradual redemption where he changes his ways and becomes a much more likeable character overall. So, he was basically type-cast for this role, but it still works fairly well. Gerard Butler makes for a decent villain, but it feels like Set is never really fleshed out all that well, we just see him being a terrible person and know he has to be defeated, and that’s about it.

This says everything you need to know about Set: he's big, scary, and tough.

The action is exciting, and that’s where the most excitement will be had in this film. Gods can transform into armored figures that more closely embody the depictions of the gods we know from Egyptian mythology. In these forms, gods like Horus can fly, and they can fight each other with their full power. However, this leads in to one of the weaker parts of the film: the CGI.

Scenes like this try to mix CGI with actor's faces, and it just doesn't quite look right, B for effort, though.

The special effects are somewhat “hit or miss,” with some scenes, like twin giant snakes, looking fairly good, but other scenes fall flat with mediocre CGI that makes you very aware that you’re watching a couple of actors leaning back and forth in front of a green-screen. This somewhat hurts the experience on the visual side, which is kind of important, since most of the supporting cast feels weak, either due to lame acting or a lack of screen-time to work with.

Geoffrey Rush plays Ra, another under-used character that could have been more interesting.

This movie goes for the flash, but instead of going off like fireworks all the way through, it ends up being a mix of a couple fireworks, some sparklers, and quite a few weak party poppers that leave you with mixed feelings about the overall impact. This isn’t a bad movie, but it certainly isn’t a good one, neither.

Good:

-A few high-points with CGI.

-Jaime Lannister being another Jaime Lannister-type guy.

Bad:

-A few low-points with CGI.

-Mediocre acting and uninspired characters throughout.

Scully Rating: 5 out of 10