Gods of Egypt Movie Review

By: Lynn Barker

In Gods of Egypt, gods and humans live together on Earth. Set and Osiris are brothers. Dad Ra favors the kinder and less volatile bro Osiris whom he makes King of Egypt while Set ends up in isolation ruling the harsh desert. Is he a little ticked off by this? You bet and he’s back to even the score. And, oh yeah, young lovers Bek and Zaya are trapped in the middle of all of this.

Bek on his quest to save Zaya

A New King

All is pretty cheery in Egypt as gods and men live together. Kindly god Osiris (Bryan Brown) is giving the throne to his son Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) but his angry and treacherous brother Set (Gerard Butler) brings an army and attacks the ceremony, kills Osiris, rips out Horus’s magical eyes and takes over…all for the worse. He wants all the riches anyone out there has and slave-like respect. Watching in horror are cute, good guy thief Bek (Brenton Thwaites) and his hot lady love Zaya (Courtney Eaton). They are separated in the huge, terrified crowd.

Set (Gerard Butler) with his armyCourtesy of Lionsgate

Bek's love ZayaCourtesy of Lionsgate

The Quest

When Set’s master builder Urshu (Rufus Sewell) takes Zaya as his slave, Bek is able to team up with the now blind, withdrawn and hiding Horus to rescue her. Horus’s power lies in his missing eyes which Set has hidden in a huge pyramid. Bek will have to go get them. He is only able to find one of the magical eyes and rescues Zaya but she is mortally shot with Urshu’s arrow. Bek returns the eye to Horus.

One-eyed Horus talks with ThothCourtesy of Lionsgate

The Promise

Horus can see well enough now with one eye although his powers are limited. He promises to bring Zaya back from the land of the dead before she crosses over permanently if Bek will go find his other eye. The duo teams up to find it together, defeat Set and get back the throne.

Zaya trapped in the afterlifeCourtesy of Lionsgate

Complications

Horus’s old girlfriend, the love goddess Hathor (Elodie Yung) seems an enemy as consort to Set but is really on the good guy side and, together the trio races against time to save Zaya, regain Horus’s eye and depose Set from the throne that should belong to the way more benevolent Horus. This will involve trips to the afterlife, a meeting with god of all gods Ra and some major battles. Will they succeed at any of this?

Love goddess HathorCourtesy of Lionsgate

Set armed for battleCourtesy of Lionsgate

Wrapping Up

Gods of Egypt is an eye-popping, action-packed giant video game of a popcorn-chomping 3D film! It’s too long but you kinda don’t care because of the amazing imagery on screen. Sets, CGI and costumes are beautiful and the movie actually works well in 3-D. At one point god Set is hauling at us in a chariot pulled by giant scarab beetles or Bek is blasting through intricate bridge-like traps like none we’ve seen before. Gods can morph into magical, armored creatures with amazing powers. We can just imagine all the action figures this movie could generate.

Set's female warriors ride giant snakesCourtesy of Lionsgate

The story is complicated and hard to follow at times or defies logic (hey, I guess it’s god-like magic?).

Stunt choreography and camerawork are very watchable and the actors do a good job working mostly with green screen and very little actually there on set.

Hathor against blue screen on setCourtesy of Lionsgate

The cast basically works well in their roles and Gerard Butler as Set, although yelling a lot, has a few quiet scenes in which we realize how hurt, lonely and betrayed he feels. There are some kick butt women in the movie but often, females are waiting for rescue by some guy and, in this day and time, we’re past that. Chadwick Boseman, the only person of color in a big-ish role, almost steals the film as the god of magic, writing and science, with his smart-a** commentary.

Thoth (Chadwick Boseman) and copiesCourtesy of Lionsgate

Some of the lines in the film are cheesy groaners but some work fine as when goddess of love and hotness Hathor tells her now blind ex Horus “Why would I waste this (indicating her hot bod) on someone who can’t see?” The romantic bickering between the two works more than fails.

Horus threatens Bek

Overall, just check logic at the door, put on your fantasy adventure hat and go to enjoy the spectacle. We go three stars.

Gods of Egypt Movie Rating: 

Gods of Egypt PosterCourtesy of Lionsgate

Gods of Egypt is in theaters February 26^th!

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