Gods of Egypt

Rating : 5/10
Release Date : 26th February, 2016
Time : 127 minutes
Director : Alex Proyas; Writers : Matt Sazama, Burk Sharpless; Music : Marco Beltrami
Starring : Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Brenton Thwaites, Courtney Eaton, Geoffrey Rush, Rufus Sewell, Elodie Young, Chadwick Boseman



Basically, it’s about two super-heroes fighting (think Batman vs Superman, Captain America vs Iron Man or even Godzilla vs King Kong) garbed in the cloak of Egyptian mythology.

Gerard Butler (a demi-God himself), slays his brother, the King of Egypt, and blinds his son, Nikolaj, taking away his super powers, sparing him only because of the beautiful Elodie Yung . He then unleashes a reign of terror, warring with and seeking out the other Gods, all under the watchful eye of the Sun God (Ra), Geoffrey Rush, with most mortals condemned to be slaves. However, one couple, Brenton and Courtney, dream of a better after-life and believe freeing Nikolaj to battle with his uncle once more is key to a better future

What follows is great from a special effects point of view but quite insipid from a story or emotion perspective. Nikolaj, as in his role as Jaime Lannister in Game of Thrones, brings a degree of warmth and charisma to his character. Gerard Butler looks and acts sufficiently mean, nasty and ambitious. And Courtney and Brenton as the young slave couple are sufficiently sweet with the latter doing well in his action sequences too.

Egyptian history does continue to hold a strange fascination for the Western world – the success of The Mummy and its sequel are testament to the fact that a good story set in the era of the pyramids can enthrall. However, this film uses the whole mythology bit only as a cloak, just for a bit of local colour – the characters, their ethos, their walk remains unmistakably American and that is it’s biggest failing.