Blood and sand

Gerard Butler goes darkness in Gods Of Egypt...

Director Alex Proyas Starring Gerard Butler, Abbey Lea, Courtney Eaton, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau ETA TBA

Judging from the spectacularly silly trailer that dropped in November, this $140m fantasy epic is either going to be so bad it’s kind of magnificent, or just plain bad.

Set in ancient Egypt, when gods walked among humans (the clue’s in the title), it sees deity of darkness Set (Gerard Butler) throw all into chaos when he takes over the empire. The only hope to restore balance is the unlikely tag-team of mortal hero Bek (Brenton Thwaites) and blind god Horus ( Game

Of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who was actually deprived of his peepers by Set and so has a score to settle. Bek must retrieve magic objects, pass tests of courage and beat the crap out of some fearsome CGI foes.

“It’s not historical in any respect,” says director Alex Proyas ( I, Robot,

The Crow), a comment that’ll hardly surprise when you’ve watched humans riding giant sand worms in the trailer. It is, however, “authentic to Egyptian myth”, and the gigantic sets, cast of thousands and 12ft “battle beasts” point to some serious pixel-power being hurled at the screen. A long-time fan of fantasy, Proyas says, “I’ve always been drawn to images that require visual trickery to achieve.”

Like Exodus: Gods And Kings, Gods

Of Egypt has received major flak for its ethnically inaccurate casting, with Proyas and the studio not making any Ridley Scott-style defences about box-office credibility, but instead apologising for the primarily western ensemble. Let’s at least hope that the sight of a pumped-up Gerard Butler screaming in leather skirt and sandals will conjure happy memories of 300. JG