Exodus: Gods and Kings (12A) **

THE RELIABLY good Christian Bale is easily the best thing about this sword-and-sandals drama that stirs but rarely quite soars. 

It’s an ambitious, good-looking attempt at bringing the story of Moses to the big screen by top director Ridley Scott. But it falls somewhat short of delivering that emotional punch he brought us in Gladiator. 

Still, Bale is never less than watchable as the defiant Moses, who initially struggles to deal with revelations that he may in fact be a Hebrew, before going on to defend his people against the might of the Egyptian Pharaoh Empire that has enslaved them. 

This leads to a mighty battle of wills between Moses and the Pharaoh leader Ramses (a very good Edgerton) -  and that’s even before a very angry God and his swarms of locusts get in on the act. 

All Moses’s greatest hits are here  -  the Ten Commandments, the various plagues, the burning bush, the parting of the Red Sea  -  yet in trying to tick every box the story feels laboured and overcooked. 

It’s beautifully shot and rendered (though way too dark in 3D), but it’s simply too uneven to hold your attention throughout the lengthy 142-minute running time. 

Bale is excellent in a tricky role playing a very multifaceted and complicated character, and his scenes with great foe Ramses are among the best in the film. 

But weak pacing and storytelling mean that by the time the refugees reach the Red Sea it’s difficult to feel really invested in their fate  -  and that’s a problem.