When I announced my list of blindspot movies for 2018, I got the most reactions (both here and on my Dutch site) about why I added Gods of Egypt. Why would I want to see this film? Some told me it’s a movie you want to switch off after 20 minutes. Of course I knew about the criticism the movie got, but that made me even more curious. So it was the first movie I watched on that list. Did I start out right?
In ancient Egypt, as the title suggests, the gods rule. They are worshiped and when the throne is transferred to Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) his brother Set (Gerard Butler) appears and changes the once peaceful country into a place of chaos. Bek (Brenton Thwaites), a thief, loses his great love and is willing to do anything to get her back from the dead and approaches Horus with the intent to work with him in order to beat Set together.
Something which I have noticed is that Gerard Butler seems to be one of the first people called when a movie has to be made with a huge budget, but where the script really isn’t amazing (or maybe he is the reason the movies disappoint?). I read an article which called him “The king of trash cinema” and he was involved with titles like Gamer, Law Abiding Citizen, Olympus Has Fallen, London Has Fallen and Geostorm. Still, it is obvious that he is having fun doing these type of roles as is the case here. He is great to watch as the villain.
Gods of Egypt is reminiscent of old adventure films, in which the main character came face to face with fantastic animals and supernatural phenomena. You did not take that seriously and simply enjoyed the ride. That way you also have to look at the adventures of Bek. Yes, it’s simple entertainment, but as far as I’m concerned there really aren’t many boring moments, even though most of the images are computer generated. You can throw a lot of criticism towards this film and you would be completely right. For me however this is a guilty pleasure film. I know it is not good, but I have been able to amuse myself with it.
[score7]