Alex Proyas gives Egyptian mythology an extravagantly artificial makeover, but the fights soon become a chore. A willing cast and some enjoyably excessive imagery cannot compensate for thin characters and clumsy dialogue.
Alex Proyas fills Gods of Egypt with computer-generated spectacle, and for a while its willingness to look ridiculous is rather winning. This is a poor adventure, though, with just enough enthusiasm to make its subsequent dullness disappointing. The gods have been fitted into a familiar action plot, with thin characters and dialogue that seldom gives anyone much to play. At 127 minutes, the film asks for much more patience than its fights or its conversations earn.
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau plays Horus, Brenton Thwaites plays Bek and Gerard Butler plays Set, and the writing gives this central trio little help. There is commitment in the performances, but the dialogue keeps making supposedly important exchanges sound like instructions for the next stretch of action. Gerard Butler at least brings enough conviction to make restraint seem beside the point, while Brenton Thwaites struggles to give Bek much spark. The characters need sharper differences than the screenplay can find for them.
Owen Paterson’s production design gives the fantasy an elaborate, ornamental look, and there is pleasure in how little it cares about appearing tasteful. We enjoyed that excess at first, because the computer-generated scenery keeps offering more to look at than the story requires. The trouble is the separation between the actors and their surroundings: people and backgrounds rarely feel as though they belong together. Peter Menzies Jr.’s cinematography does too little to make those artificial spaces feel solid enough for an adventure.
Richard Learoyd’s rapid editing is more damaging once the fights take over, hurrying us through action that already lacks tension. We were bored by the repeated confrontations, because the movement on screen never gave us much reason to worry about anyone in it. Marco Beltrami supplies the score, but music cannot do all the work of making a fight exciting. The next burst of activity arrives with the same problem, and the film’s early lightness steadily disappears.
The casting of Egyptian roles around a predominantly white set of leads is another dispiriting choice. Fantasy gives the filmmakers freedom, but it does not explain why this particular mythology should arrive with so little apparent interest in its people. The gods are treated as convenient action figures. That narrow approach also hurts the story, which keeps returning to familiar confrontations when its subject offers room for stranger ideas.
There is nothing inherently wrong with turning ancient mythology into a broad swords-and-sandals adventure, and solemnity would not improve this one. What such a film needs is variety: a fight worth following, an exchange worth hearing, a pause long enough to enjoy the surroundings. Alex Proyas has enthusiasm for the images, but too many sequences have much the same effect. The screenplay by Burk Sharpless and Matt Sazama cannot keep finding fresh reasons for the journey to continue.
A little of this extravagant foolishness is diverting, and the cast’s willingness to take part keeps it from feeling entirely mechanical. There simply is not enough pleasure to justify the length, especially once the action starts repeating itself. If the plan is an evening of enjoyable nonsense, we would look for something with fewer dull fights.
