20th Century Fox has released a new Exodus: Gods and Kings featurette online.  The film stars Christian Bale as Moses and Joel Edgerton as the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses and chronicles what happens when Moses rises up and leads the slaves out of Egypt.  In this featurette, Bale and Edgerton relate anecdotes from the set and explain why they admire director Ridley Scott, but I'm still struggling to get excited for this movie.  Edgerton can talk about how the battles are about "ethics", but it looks like they're really about a big visual effects budget.  This movie seems to be a biblical epic removed from the Bible.  It's like Scott wants to seize on the grand themes of the story but not mention God or Jews or anything that might make people uncomfortable.  I understand that perhaps they're hiding the religious aspects from the marketing, but all I'm seeing now are archetypes and set pieces.  Hopefully, the finished film has more to offer.

Hit the jump to check out the Exodus: Gods and Kings featurette.  The film opens in 3D on December 5th, and also stars Ben KingsleyAaron PaulJohn Turturro, and Sigourney Weaver.

Click over to Apple to see the trailer in HD.

Here’s the official synopsis for Exodus: Gods and Kings:

From acclaimed director Ridley Scott (Gladiator, Prometheus) comes the epic adventure “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” the story of one man’s daring courage to take on the might of an empire. Using state-of-the-art visual effects and 3D immersion, Scott brings new life to the story of the defiant leader Moses (Christian Bale) as he rises up against the Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses (Joel Edgerton), setting 600,000 slaves on a monumental journey of escape from Egypt and its terrifying cycle of deadly plagues.

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