Ridley Scott & Christian Bale’s Controversial Action Movie Is Free To Stream At The Perfect Time

Ridley Scott and Christian Bale’s controversial action film crosses over to free streaming at the perfect time.

Many of Ridley Scott’s movies have helped shape cinema and the respective genres they belong to, especially when it comes to Alien, Thelma & Louise, and Gladiator. In the case of Gladiator, its critical and commercial success helped lead to more historical epics and biblical epics as well. Scott directed Kingdom of Heaven, a 2005 movie that tells the story of the Third Crusade, and then tackled a biblical epic in 2014 with Bale playing the role of Moses.

As of April 1, Scott and Bale’s Exodus: Gods and Kings is now streaming for free on Tubi, the ad-supporting platform that does not require a subscription. The film adapts the biblical story of Exodus, in which Moses leads the Jewish people out of Egypt after they were enslaved there. The timing of the movie’s free streaming release is perfect because it falls during the Jewish holiday of Passover this year, during which the story of Exodus is told.

The changes that Exodus: Gods and Kings makes compared to its religious source material, especially when it came to the cast’s lack of diversity, is what proved to be controversial. It was accused of whitewashed casting, with a cast that includes Bale as Moses, Joel Egerton as Pharoah Ramses II, Aaron Paul as Joshua, Sigourney Weaver as Ramses II’s mother Tuya, and Ben Mendelsohn as Viceroy Hegep, who oversees the slaves in Egypt. In Egypt, the movie was banned due to “historical inaccuracies.”

In ScreenRant‘s Exodus: Gods and Kings review, Ben Kendrick gave the movie six out 10 stars and wrote that “The film features a number of visually stunning scenes” and “Scott has delivered a palatable mix of action, drama, and theological ruminating worthy of casual film viewing. Still, while viewers debate this sword (rather than staff) wielding Moses, Scott succeeds in his primary objective — painting Moses as a man who, for better or worse, wrestles with God, faith, family, and his duty.”

Kendrick’s assessment was more positive than the majority of critics, as the movie holds a 29% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. At 35%, the Popcornmeter score is not much better. Many of the reviews take issue with the casting choices and the script, but praise the action sequences and Scott’s cinematography. These are areas where Scott’s movies have often excelled, with Gladiator being a prominent example. Several reviews also acknowledge that Bale and the rest of the actors do their best with the material they are given.

Despite Scott and Bale both having prolific careers in the film industry, Exodus: Gods and Kings remains their only collaboration. They’ve both had tremendous success at the box office, including The Dark Knight trilogy and Thor: Love and Thunder for Bale, and The Martian and Gladiator for Scott. Their 2014 movie grossed $268 million worldwide, although it was not a box office success since it did not hit the breakeven point against the budget of $140 million.

Bale has been cast in the long-awaited and confirmed sequel Heat 2 and is portraying Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis in the biopic Madden. Scott is attached to numerous projects, including as the director of The Dog Stars, a post-apocalyptic science-fiction movie starring Jacob Elordi that is scheduled to come to theaters on August 28, 2026. While viewers wait for Scott and Bale’s next projects, they can watch their sole collaboration, Exodus: Gods and Kings, on Tubi.

Release Date

December 12, 2014

Runtime

150minutes