“Exceptional Beings” Movie Review

 

“Exceptional Beings”

Movie Review

 

 

Njedeh Anthony, the writer/director, wrote Exceptional Beings as a prequel to his novel Godhood. Anthony and co-director Christian Kazadi take their time explaining what's going on. Exceptional Beings begins with Mina Bihary (Rachel Thundat) being visited by two unexpected visitors with clearly godlike abilities. This is due to the fact that they are Athena (Ciarra Carter) and her brother Hermes (Dane Oliver).

What brought them here? Even when they don't want to be seen, Mina can see them and other gods. That's something a normal mortal shouldn't be able to do, and it begs the question, if she's not a mortal or a god, what is she? And how does her presence influence them?

Hermes then instructs Mina to observe a couple, Daniel (Clark Moore) and his pregnant wife Xena (Sarah Bonrepaux), on the day she tells him she no longer loves him. Mina appears perplexed as to why, but the viewer should understand.

Poseidon (Eric Roberts) and Methuselah make brief appearances (Jean Charles). Jesus, Noah, and the ark are also mentioned. Unfortunately, Satan, Kali, and The Flying Spaghetti Monster all fail to appear.

Apollo is referred to as male, played by a woman (Victoria Antonelli), and has a voice that switches between the two depending on his mood. "If Charlton Heston can be Moses, I can be an American ginger," Hermes says of Athena, who appears to be from Africa rather than Greece. Of course, there are also lines like "You hedonistic, incestuous, horndog". And you have to give credit to the actors in the scene for maintaining a straight face when it's delivered.

Unfortunately, that is the other major omission in Exceptional Beings. There's a lot of dialogue that's supposed to be profound, but most of it is pretentious, shallow, and doesn't really tell us anything. The script doesn't deliver anything other than fancy-sounding platitudes and mystic mumbo jumbo until the conversation between Athena and Methuselah.

Even when I found out what was going on, I was disappointed. Yes, the big reveal in relation to Athena's opinion of humans is ironic, but it also involves the writer pulling a new, omnipotent character out of his asses, a Deus ex gluteus maximus if you will. It's an insult to anyone who hasn't figured out the story by that point.

There is some amusing dialogue, such as Athena stating that Methuselah was not what she expected and him asking if she expected Morgan Freeman. There are also a few fights and some decent low-budget CGI and green screen, such as the scene in Poseidon's lair. But that's far from enough to compensate for the agonizing dialogue you have to endure to get to them. And there is a post-credits scene, but I doubt anyone will stay for it. If you enjoy Njedeh Anthony's novels, particularly Godhood, you might enjoy Exceptional Beings better.

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