Exodus: Gods and Kings

Exodus: Gods and Kings is this year's biblical epic following on from Darren Aronofsky's Noah in 2014.

Thankfully, Ridley Scott chooses to focus on delivering a realistic depiction of how the tale could have played out rather than over-fantasise like Aronofsky.

It's two and a half hour run time moves surprisingly quickly with great battle scenes, a rags to riches tale played perfectly by Christian Bale as Moses (the man can do no wrong) and an incredible depiction of the famous plagues which sweeps aside the old classic Prince Of Egypt (remember that?!)

There's a couple of negatives here; foremost of which is the lack of screen time given to the amazing supporting cast (Sigourney Weaver, Aaron Paul and Ben Kingsley get nothing to go on at all) and a rather unbiblical lack of violence (Scott goes for the family friendly 12A rating which seems silly given the run time and story.)

It's a relatively weak ending too (after the amazing 'parting of the Red Sea' moment) and there's a few glitches in the narrative.

Well worth a watch though if you are a fan of historical epics (particularly Gladiator) as there's much to like here.

4 stars ****