Many critics slammed Exodus: Gods and Kings for lacking emotional content and engaging dialogues, while others credited its stunning visual effects as the movie's saving grace.
Ridley Scott's biblical masterpiece received scathing reviews from Forbes.com, as it was deemed "God-awful."
Contributor Scott Mendelson wrote, "Ridley Scott's Exodus: Gods and Kings is a terrible film. It is a badly acted and badly written melodrama that takes what should be a passionate and emotionally wrenching story and drains it of all life and all dramatic interest."
He called the characters "paper-thin" and the actors "oddly miscast." Mendelson even deemed DreamWorks Animation's The Prince of Egypt as to having more "nuance, emotional impact, and moral shading."
He did, however, laud the decision to cast 11-year-old Brit Isaac Andrews as God. He also highlighted a riveting chase scene in the latter part of the movie. "Yes, the scene of chariots tumbling off a collapsing mountainside is pretty awesome, but it's a weird thing to watch thousands of civilians die horribly and merely be impressed by the special effects," he said.
Sydney Morning Herald's Philippa Hawker was more generous with her words as she described the movie as "equally inspired and plagued."
"When it comes to action and spectacle, to depicting plagues of locusts, swarms of frogs, rivers of blood, the fury of battle and the unpredictability of the Red Sea, it's energetic and striking; it's a vivid, imposing evocation of the world of Egypt, and Scott uses 3D to good effect, albeit discreetly. Yet it falls flat in certain areas; several characters are underwritten, the narrative drags at times, and scenes such as the delivery of the Ten Commandments are surprisingly perfunctory," she wrote.
A different writer from the Sydney Morning Herald Jane Freebury was all praises for Scott's visual drama.
"His films are always good-looking. He wasn't once in advertising for nothing. Of all the hubristic filmmakers who go high and wide, he's the one I'd choose to see part the waters of the Red Sea or bring the tablet down the mount," she wrote.
Unlike the others, Freebury thought the movie was "high, wide and handsome with some terrific if controversial casting choices."