Let me start right with the complaint of many people being angered by the whitewashing of ancient Egyptian culture. Of course that would be infuriating if they tried to present something made up as truth. But honestly nothing in this film can and should be taken seriously. So that means that no one should really get offended. If anything they should be happy that this disgrace of a film is just a fantasy film which happens to use some ancient Egyptian mythological figures.
Maybe Alex Proyas was going for a fantasy tale based on ancient Egyptian Mythology wrapped in a realistic twist. And then got bored with it and made this one instead using the costumes and effects already prepared. Storytelling in this film is absolutely abysmal. It's as basic as it can get and even then it seems like not much effort is put in it. Set wants to take over rule and then waltzes over everyone who he thinks in in the way with ease. None other than Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) puts up a fight to then be beaten and has his eyes removed. All pretty dramatic and interesting stuff. But then the story shifts to thief Bek who forms an alliance with tired and defeated Horus. And together they will have to find a way to defeat Set. It is at this point the film loses steam and takes it sweet time to get where it should go. When it comes to action / adventure films I usually am very forgiving for the lack of story. Although I do require to have at least one or two compelling characters that would make it worth my while. I am sorry to say not even Gerard Butler did it for me. All of the characters bore me since there wasn't anything remotely interesting about them. Apart from the fact that all of them acted like stupid idiots. For gods who are supposed to be all wise and powerful they sure made a very bad impression. And maybe that was the point. Maybe Proyas wanted to tell us that these gods were merely pimped versions of humans who even with all their knowledge and power needed them to advance in life. But of course there is no message since this is a blockbuster film through and through with everything compelling and fun stripped out.
Why am I being so harsh? Well, I think I have the right to be. I was looking forward to this and I never had expectations this was going to be a masterpiece. However I had hoped it was going to offer me some good action and fun. Only in two or three scenes was the action fun. Everything else I already have tuned out. It's sad but true this film is not worth your time.
2 comments:
Thanks for the warning. I plan to give this one a miss.
You are welcome!
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