Gods of Egypt 3D Blu-ray Review
Kristy Sturdivant
June 21st, 2016
When I first saw the trailer for GODS OF EGYPT, I admit unabashedly that I was excited. I love these epic type films that are about any form of mythology. In fact, I turned to my husband and even gave a little squeal, much to his dismay. However, every time the trailer played before a film, my excitement dropped just a smidge. It might have been that I just saw it too much, or that when I watched a little closer I saw the inevitable flaws that would be its downfall, whatever the case, by the time the Blu-ray landed in our player I was bracing myself for the ridicule that I knew my dear, sweet husband was going to be sending my way during and after the film was over. Sigh, I wish he hadn’t been right.
GODS OF EGYPT starts off with the god Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) about to accept the crown of Egypt from his father Osiris. When his uncle Set (Gerard Butler) shows up and slays his father and removes both of Horus’ eyes, the god goes off into hiding while Set takes over Egyptt, turning most of the citizens into slaves and pretty much making life horrible for everyone. Horus still has those who believe in him though, like two mortals who risk their lives to steal one of his eyes and return it to him. That’s where we meet our mortal protagonist named Bek (Brenton Thwaites). Together, Horus and Bek fight back against Set to take back the throne of Egypt and make things right for the mortals.
Wow, after typing up that synopsis it’s really easy to see why this film bombed at the box office. The story is a take on the mythology, but it’s obviously tweaked to the point of ridiculousness and boredom for Hollywood. There is nothing really interesting about the plot, and if you are unfamiliar with any Egyptian mythology, then you will have a hard time following some of the points anyway. None of the characters are really interesting enough to root for, so this was two hours of subpar story with kind of interesting graphics that have been done better before.
What I thought would be the saving grace of the film, seeing Nikolaj Coster-Waldau (aka Jamie Lannister from HBO’s Game of Thrones) in a leading role in a major film, was still a letdown. He did okay, but the terrible acting of his co-star Brenton Thwaites was what really stole the show. It’s hard to distinguish whether the overacting he did throughout the film was humorous or painful to watch, the poor kid will have a really tough time putting this bomb behind him. As for Gerard Butler, his acting is fine but he continues to choose these roles which do nothing for his career. It’s a little sad and I just feel bad for him, he really could do better.
I did have a little hope that GODS OF EGYPT was going to be better than all the trailers portrayed it, but I’m sorry to say that it couldn’t even live up to that little sliver I had set aside for it. I hope this flop won’t affect Nikolaj Coster-Waldau or even Brenton Thwaites too much, but we’ve seen how tough it is for actors to recover from such a stumble of a film. Hollywood is a tough place and when they put out over-the-top films like GODS OF EGYPT you almost have to feel sorry for everyone involved when it’s such a disappointment.
3D BLU-RAY REVIEW
This is where the film should have excelled. Everyone had to have known going in that this was going to be a cheesy movie, but the saving grace should have been the 3D effects. Unfortunately, the film couldn’t even get the 3D right, which is a little perplexing. Action scenes that should have had deep 3D effects were subdued and while we got some crisp detail in the non-action scenes, it just wasn’t enough depth. Overall, the 3D experience was disappointing, especially given the type of film this is.
BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: The 2D version is extremely crisp, with the bold colors shining through perfectly.
Audio: The audio was fine.
Deleted Storyboards (5:45): Two deleted scenes that didn’t do much and were justifiably cut.
A Divine Vision: Creating a Cinematic Action Fantasy (11:50): A typical making of featurette that does include a few bits of interesting information regarding the special effects especially.
Of Gods and Mortals: The Cast (10:50): Cast and crew interviews with a couple of behind-the-scenes shots.
Transformation: Costume, Make-up and Hair (11:10): More behind-the-scenes shots that focus on making the cast into gods.
On Location: Shooting in Australia (12:45): Even though there was so much computer generated production in the film, there were some real life locations, this short feature is about those.
The Battle for Eternity: Stunts (11:40): This was fairly interesting as we get to see some of the fight choreography and then how they added in the special effects.
A Window into Another World: Visual Effects (11:00): Interviews with the team in charge and a brief overview of the major special effects in the film, pretty interesting.
