December 15, 2014 at 5:00 PM

I will try and give an honest assessment of this movie with very little spoilers.

Honestly, as movies go, this was a pretty good film. Ridley Scott created a very good historical piece. (I am not just saying that, because I am a Ridley Scott fanboy. Although we must give him some grace as he gave us the masterpiece that is Gladiator.) You felt like you were in Egypt. The characters seemed Egyptian. He even got the chariot construction correct. (I just saw a documentary of recreating the Pharaoh’s chariot.) It was a beautiful film, the CGI leant well to the supernatural events.

That is where I must leave this film. As far as a Biblical movie, it was not. Probably the worst Exodus movie I have seen, although Moses the Lawgiver is still pretty bad. As far as source material, it seems as though Ridley used the 10 Commandments and The Prince of Egypt movies as source material instead of the Bible. Now was I expecting a Biblical film? No. Even though it is a story from the Bible, I would say that to expect it to be anywhere near accurate is just wishful thinking these days. When we go and see a comic book movie or a movie based on a book, fans are expecting it to be somewhat accurate. We all realize that transforming the written word to the big screen is a challenge, but I find it interesting that Jews and Christians can’t expect the same accuracy as other movie genres fans. Taking into account areas where creative license is needed, such as what would God’s voice really sound like. IMHO I think Dreamworks nailed that one. Best burning bush scene ever. As it is, we have to just settle for the fact that someone took an interest in telling a tale and maybe hope that people will dig deeper to find the truth of the story. To that philosophy I will call it like it is: LAME! Now, as compared to that lame representation of a Bible story that was the movie Noah, at least Ridley actually put God in this film, albeit a poor representation, none-the-less God was actually in it.

For the record, taking a late date of Exodus will always leave directors with a dilemma. How do you keep from killing Ramses when the Red Sea comes crashing back in? Well, you won’t have that problem if you do your home work and stop using the late date. The late date doesn’t work anyway. The timeline going forward shrinks the book of Judges from a time period, which is supposed to be 400 years, down to like 120 years. Nope, doesn’t work. Evidence for the late date comes from Exodus 1:11, as it says the Israeli’s built the cities of Pithom and Raamses. They found monuments of Ramses II there, but that isn’t any real proof. He stuck monuments every where and even took credit for building things he didn’t really build. Also, Gen 47:11 says that the Israelis settled in the land of Ramses, which is the another name for the land of Goshen. This is where Rameses I got his name, because he came from this region. Anyway, the Pharaoh of the Exodus wasn’t Ramses. Probably Amenhotep II.

Now, which sounds better? ” Amenhotep, let my people go!” or “Ramses, let my people go!”. I dare say, the history here was decided by the big screen long ago in the movie 10 Commandments.

So, taking all that into account. I think Ridley Scott made a visually stunning, historically accurate, beautiful movie using some biblical character names. It was worth the $10. If you want the Exodus story, read the first 19 chapters of Exodus. It is worth the read!

Thanks to Olivia and Josh Heisey for their company in watching this film and for sticking around to discuss.

Have a great day!

If you would like more information on the dating of the Exodus, or other historical tidbits hit me up.

First things first: I don’t like giving spoilers, so all of my reviews should be spoiler safe. I am also not going to give recommendations on age appropriateness. There are enough websites to guide parents on whether they should let their minor children see this or not.

I saw Godzilla today with my friend, Tim. As the credits were rolling, I realized that I have seen two movies now, and have failed to post a review of either of them. I will post about Godzilla first, as that is the freshest in my mind.

I have always been a sucker for a good Godzilla movie. Tim (the same friend) and I even saw a Godzilla movie in Okinawa, Japan when we were stationed there in the military. It was both awkward and fun, as only Japanese school kids were also watching the movie. They would cover their mouths trying to keep us from seeing their amusement, all the while pointing at us randomly.

This movie is a continuation from Godzilla, which came out in 2014, and is in the same universe as Kong: Skull Island. I think it is neat to see movies that link in this way, much like the movies that Marvel has been putting out. In Godzilla: King of the Monsters (KotM) we see mostly new characters in a unique story arc that stands on its own from Godzilla.

If you are wanting to see a classic monster movie, this certainly doesn’t disappoint. There are plenty of monsters, and plenty of monster fights. The CGI is quite good, especially compared to what we used to see on TV. The acting was good. There was no over acting, or weakly delivered lines. This is no B movie.

I only really have a few complaints. First of all, it wasn’t consistent with reality. The scientists would talk technically about radiation exposure and its dangers, but then the human characters would have massive amounts of radiation exposure and then it was treated like it was no big deal. Also, for some reason radiation helps plants grow in this movie, but in reality it doesn’t. This wasn’t a big deal to me, but none the less it did stick out in my mind. Second, the plot line dealing with the human characters didn’t really work as well as I think it could have. Again, no deal breakers here.

I would recommend this movie to all monster fans. Seeing the other movies isn’t required, but I would recommend it. It helps you to be set more in the world. My overall rating is a 7 out of 10.

Oh, and there is an end credits clip, so plan on staying to the very end.

I have honestly been struggling with this question for years. Does the world need another opinion about things? Probably not. Do I have something to say? Always. Does my opinion have merit? Some people think so.

Ultimately, it is you the reader that will have to ultimately decide whether I have anything to say worth hearing. I love theology, philosophy, debate, and movies; so I at least should have topics to talk about. I will keep this blog mostly theology free. I have another blog that will be dedicated to that, so if you are interested check it out: http://www.discipleshipcorps.org

I have added a page of a movie review that I did back in December 2014, when I reviewed the movie Exodus: Gods and Kings. I know it is outdated, but it will at least give you a taste of my writing style. It will also tide you over as I begin to talk about things.

If you would like me to blog my opinion about something in particular, hit me up.