'Gods of Egypt': An Outdated Fantasy

BENGALURU: "Gods of Egypt"; Director: Alex Proyas; Cast: Gerard Butler, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Rufus Sewell, Brenton Thwaites, Courtney Eaton, Abbey Lee, Chadwick Boseman and Geoffrey Rush; Rating: **

Packed with spectacular action, director Geoffrey Rush's "Gods of Egypt" is a fantasy-adventure film, based on the Egyptian mythology. It is a tale of romance, power, survival and afterlife.

Designed on a grand scale with rousing music, the narration begins with Set (Gerard Butler), the merciless god of Darkness, usurping the throne of Egypt after blinding his nephew, Horus (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) the god of the Winds, thereby plunging the once peaceful and prosperous empire into chaos and conflict.

The ambitious Set preserves Horus's eyes in a highly mechanised booby-trapped vault. He also terrorises the other gods and enslaves his subjects, making life miserable for them.

Meanwhile, mere mortal Bek (Brenton Thwaites) who is besotted with the beautiful Zaya (Courtney Eaton) agrees to carry out her plan to steal Horus's eyes from Set and give it back to Horus. By doing so, they hope to restore Horus to the throne and thereby resume a happy life.

Bek partially succeeds in his endeavour. He then goes to meet Zaya, who is the slave of Set's henchman, an architect. While escaping from the henchman's clutches, Zaya is shot. Bek is distraught at losing her. How he takes the help of the various gods to reach out to Zaya in the afterlife and restore peace in Egypt, forms the crux of this tale.

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