a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

Bad acting, bad lines and no emotion. Now I know why Egypt banned this movie: to save the time and money of Egyptians

When I was a kid they took us to London to see what was the most amazing film I had ever seen up to that point I think - The Greatest Story Ever Told and it was one of those in "Cinerama", massively wide curved screen etc. I knew the story but was bowled away by the action on screen - yes indeed, the Old Testament could be action-packed fun. This weekend we watched Ridley Scott's take on the Old Testament on our mighty plasma TV and it looked great but of course lacked the impact of that ancient movie. Times change, we get inured to the special, novelties all too rapidly become a given on life's ratchet. Without giving the game away even though most know the story from Sunday School, I thought it was well done, well acted, well photographed etc. It ticked all the boxes but somehow fell short. It seemed like a sequence of alternate flash and dialogue, talking exposition then crash bang wallop or is that how all movies are made these days? Plus of course, we have LOTR and GoT to poison the well of our expectations... and for me another attempt to get my head around Scott's Alien Covenant and failing. Unlike Gladiator I doubt we shall be buying the Box Set and rewatching Exodus.

For the plusses: The Creator is shown to be the true God who is listened to while the gods worshiped by the Egyptians are deaf to their cries for help. Too, the CGI effects are fantastic to see and very realistic. For the negatives: primarily, the story does not follow the written record in the Bible. It does not matter whether you believe that written record is historical or not. You may believe it is purely fictional. Your opinion one way or another is insignificant. The fact is that we have four very ancient documents--the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy--that have inspired a number of films about Moses, and for this film those documents seem to have only been studied cursorily while the imaginations of the writer and director--and maybe even the actors themselves--were allowed to go off on tangents. Why not tell the story as it appears in the documents? Not freaky enough? Moses not tough-guy enough? Moses wasn't a tough guy. He was, and I paraphrase from the documents, the most humble man to ever walk to earth, speaking with God as a friend would speak with another friend. Where's his son's foreskin being smeared all over his feet by his wife Zipporah? Too graphic for a wide audience, I suppose. Why does his brother Aaron just stand there and not do what he is traditionally supposed to do, which is to speak for Moses whenever the latter has anything at all to say? I guess that would have taken the spotlight too far away from Bale. Where's Moses' powerful staff that can part waters and make the land between dry enough to walk across or coax much- needed water from a rock or turn into a serpent-swallowing serpent? Oh, I see. The snake-eating part of the story couldn't be explained as a natural occurrence like most of the plagues are. Maybe there was a natural chain reaction for the plagues. Very possible. Until, of course, we get to the blackness that covered Egypt when the Angel of the Lord (not seen in the film) killed all of the firstborn children and livestock of the families that did not cover their door-posts with the blood of unblemished lambs. Then the natural explanations sort of fall apart. Anyway, you see my point. There was some good stuff, but most of it was action film garbage. Bale plays a better Batman than a historical Hebrew leader who is seen by most Jews as a precursor to their idea of the Messiah and by all Christians as a primary archetype of Y'shua (Jesus) the Messiah. This is not to say that Charlton Heston was ever a great anything that he played, but at least Cecil B. DeMille made an attempt to follow the received documents. I give this one a 2 out of 10, but only because of the really great CGI effects. Guess that might show you in yet another way what I believe is the most important part of telling any story received from our ancestors and ancients.

Pretty good movie in my opinion. But what I don't get is this a Christian/Jewish movie, or an anti-Christian/Jewish movie? Because Jesus Christ, that Hebrew god is just a major asshole, having him portrayed as a small kid doesn't help, it just makes it worse, like humanity is his plaything.I know the biblical story is pretty rough as well, like many things in the old testament, but they could have done a few things to make god seem a bit more sympathetic. I ended up rooting for the Egyptians at the end as a result.