GODS OF EGYPT

Publicity poster for Gods of Egypt (© Alex Proyas/Thunder Road Pictures/Mystery Clock Cinema/Summit Entertainment – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)

On 23 September 2018, I watched on TV the fantasy movie Gods of Egypt, directed by Alex Proyas and first released in 2016. A mighty spectacle, certainly, even though its storyline contains only passing resemblances to traditional Egyptian mythology (Set killing his brother Osiris, Ra's nightly battle with the cosmic serpent Apophis, Anubis attending the dead prior to their judgement).

Instead, it weaves an original plot in which Horus the sky god is assisted by a plucky mortal youth named Bek in retrieving his eyes, the brain of Thoth (god of wisdom), and the heart of Osiris. These had all been stolen by Set in order to render himself invincible and immortal while yet in this life rather than in any afterlife.

The transformations of various of the deities from humans into their true divine forms are never less than breathtaking, with the golden wings of Horus in particular, rendering him ineffably airborne in swooping burnished grandeur, effortlessly transcending even the mighty pinions of the gargantuan prehistoric teratorn Argentavis itself (check out my cryptozoology blog ShukerNature here and here for more details re teratorns). The gargantuan fire-breathing cobras - picture a bizarre hybrid of mega-ophidian fire-thrower and Dune's most gigantic of the giant sandworms - are also visually arresting. So too is the deadly riddle-posing sphinx (albeit a blatant steal from the Greek legend of Oedipus, but never mind).

The purists will no doubt think otherwise, but by ignoring its fast and loose treatment of traditional Egyptian mythology and accepting it simply for what it was intended to be - a sands-and-sandals fantasy writ large - Gods of Egypt is definitely a most enjoyable romp, replete with spellbinding special effects. For that reason, I regret not having viewed it on the big screen back in 2016, because there is no doubt that it would be greatly improved by such viewing, as its effects cannot hope to be seen to their best advantage on a smaller one.

Several of the cast members were new to me, but there were also some familiar names, in particular Gerard Butler (as the villainous Set), Bryan Brown (Osiris), Rufus Sewell (Set's architect, Urshu), and Geoffrey Rush as the all-powerful sun god Ra (as opposed to Captain Barbossa, the role of his that I am presently more familiar with, after having lately watched the first three Pirates of the Caribbean movies!).

And here is an eye-dazzling trailer featuring among others those afore-mentioned fire-breathing cobras!

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Gif of the winged sky god Horus in all his spectacular gilded glory – please click it if it fails to run automatically (© Alex Proyas/Thunder Road Pictures/Mystery Clock Cinema/Summit Entertainment – reproduced here on a strictly non-commercial Fair Use basis for educational/review purposes only)