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Reel Reviews: Gods of Egypt's effects are sinfully bad

Taylor and Howe say, "Gods of Egypt is a bit like a two hour video game."
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Bek (Brenton Thwaites) wants to strike a deal with Horus (Nicolaj Coster-Waldau) in the terrible

For a brief time in ancient Egypt, the gods lived among the people and ruled over them.

When Set (Gerard Butler) takes over the throne in a violent coup against Horus (Nicolaj Coster-Waldau), a well-intentioned young thief named Bek (Brenton Thwaites) helps the dethroned king get his revenge.

We say, “Gods of Egypt is a bit like a two hour video game.”

TAYLOR: A lot of this film is made with actors in costume performing in front of a green screen. Often there are no actors in the scene at all, just computer animation. The special effects are not always bad, but are often bad enough to be distracting. For a film that relies so heavily on people, places and things that are not real, I find the filmmakers’ ability to render such things believably lacking.

HOWE: The special effects are so bad that they make a 1970s’ Sinbad movie, made out of plasticine, look modern.

This is the first problem with the film; the second I will get into later. Gods of Egypt is a great idea for a movie, but without nailing the special effects it falls badly short of the mark. It felt like they gave their footage to first year special effects students and said, “Here you go, make a movie. This is your budget and this is what it’s about.”

In some scenes, things looked horrendous, especially in the opening scenes where you had the gods, who are meant to be nine-feet tall and mortals standing next to them. It looked like they had cut one of them out and pasted them on, you could see the fuzzy outline from the scissors they used.

TAYLOR: After I accepted that the film was going to look like a video game, I was able to enjoy it well enough. While it’s true the film contains quite a bit of bad acting, Gods of Egypt is a Sunday afternoon matinée type movie. We don’t need amazing acting to get through a fantasy film of this nature.

I was at first interested in the film’s portrayal of the gods, but it becomes clear they’re all one dimensional. However, it’s the limitations of the special effects that buries this film. There’s a few too many misty scenes in nondescript locales, which dulls the overall experience. In the end, the film is underwhelming and at times, noticeably bad. I still liked it. It speaks to my inner 12 year old.

HOWE: I thought the effects were bad, then they opened their mouths. Low and behold they speak with an Oxford or Cambridge university accent. Now don’t get me wrong, I know it’s a fantasy movie and I can let some things slide, but when you add all of it up – bad acting, bad dialogue and bad effects – I have to draw the line somewhere. I agree it is a Sunday afternoon matinée for three reasons only: I’m back in the ‘70s and I’m a kid; I can’t go outside because it’s raining, or finally, I’m sick of Sinbad movies.

– Taylor gives Gods of Egypt 2.5 pyramids out of 5.

– Howe gives it 2 scarab beetles out of 5.

- Brian Taylor and Peter Howe review the latest films in their column, Reel Reviews, every Friday and Sunday.