Movie review: Moses carries the weight in wild, weird ‘Exodus: Gods and Kings’

Ridley Scott's biblical epic "Exodus: Gods and Kings" is by turns fascinating and infuriating, exciting and tedious, head-scratching and inspiring.

If you have any devotion to either Moses or the movies, you will come away with a strong opinion. Possibly several.

Scott and star Christian Bale present a muscular, robust Moses. He is shown first as a warrior pledging his service to the Egyptian pharaoh Seti (John Turturro) and an adoptive brother to Seti's son Ramses (Joel Edgerton). When Ramses succeeds Seti, jealousy and palace intrigue play themselves out.

Anyone familiar with the Old Testament or other screen portrayals (most notably Cecil B. deMille's ponderous 1956 epic "The Ten Commandments") knows what happens next. Ramses learns that Moses isn't Egyptian-born, but the son of Hebrew slaves. Moses is exiled to the desert, where he finds a new life among shepherds, settling down with the lovely Zipporah (Spanish actress María Valverde).

Then — spoiler alert! — God summons Moses to the mountain. Yes, Scott serves up the burning bush, but he also depicts God as Malak (Isaac Andrews), a petulant 10-year-old. Or maybe, as seen by his Hebrew countryman Joshua (Aaron Paul), Moses is really just talking to himself.

That's just one interpretation in this tag-teamed script — credited to six writers, including the Coen brothers and Steven Zaillian ("Schindler's List") — that is sure to rile up the faithful. Another is Scott's depiction of the plagues (frogs, boils and so on) that employs a rational, science-driven explanation while also, in the deMille tradition, providing an opportunity for cool special effects.

That streak of gritty realism benefits "Exodus: Gods and Kings," particularly in Bale's performance. The former Batman gives us a Moses we can understand, a tortured soul who wrestles with the brutal consequences of God's commands.

On the Egyptian side, things get weirder. Scott has been criticized for casting non-Egyptian actors to portray the Egyptians: two Australians (Edgerton and, as a viceroy, Ben Mendelsohn), two Americans (Turturro and Sigourney Weaver as Tuya, Seti's queen), an Israeli-born Arab (Haim Abbass as Bithia, Moses' adopted mother), an Iranian (Golshifteh Farahani as Ramses' wife, Nefertari), a Brit of Indian descent (Indira Varma as Ramses' high priestess) and a Scot (Ewen Bremner, as a royal adviser).

This Model U.N. of acting poses its own problems, including a mishmash of accents and an unavoidable level of campiness when they're all decked out in Egyptian gold and lapis lazuli. At times, the movie's central conflict isn't Hebrew vs. Egyptian or God vs. Pharaoh, but Bale's Method acting vs. everyone else's "Aida"-level hamminess.

Still, Scott knows how to pull off a spectacle, and the story of Moses has plenty of that — from the plagues to the crossing of the Red Sea. This makes "Exodus: Gods and Kings" a long-winded mess, but frequently a watchable one.

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'Exodus: Gods and Kings'

Director Ridley Scott's epic telling of the Old Testament story of Moses is watchable, but often strange.

Where • Theaters everywhere.

When • Opens Friday, Dec. 12.

Rating • PG-13 for violence including battle sequences and intense images.

Running time • 144 minutes.