In an interesting take on the Chosen One trope, Exceptional Beings presents us with seemingly ordinary schoolteacher Mina Bihary (Rachel Thundat). When the personifications of the Greek gods Athena (Ciarra Carter as a fashionista Storm from X-Men) and Hermes (Dane Oliver as a ginger Harry Styles) drop in and start asking her, “What are you?” she flees. And fights. And flees. “I am not who you think I am,” she protests. Being picked on by gods is a pain in the butt.

This film is a prequel based on the novel Godhood by writer/director Njedeh Anthony, but storywise mostly stands on its own. It’s not a high-budget film, but mostly they use their assets well, and it comes across with a definite fantasy charm. Athena and Hermes steal the show in every scene they’re in, and their banter hints at a lot of backstory that presumably is more thoroughly explained in the book, but in the film it’s just a mystery, but not annoying. Athena is her war aspect, less the goddess of wisdom. She’s fiery and temperamental. And don’t listen too closely to her accent. It slips once when she says “pyramid,” so I think the accent isn’t so much from a specific place, but an anti-accent to cover her natural southern one. Hermes is slick and alternately gentle and threatening. He’s referred to as thief, though the Greek fella had a lot more going on than that. These two, brother and sister, seem to be somewhat narrow interpretations of their gods. Apollo and Poseidon are even moreso, when we meet them. Still, they are mostly interesting characters, and the mystery of What’s Really Going On Here is enough to keep the viewer engaged.

In an odd way, it gives me Night Watch vibes. Superhuman forces constrained by a treaty from meddling in mortal affairs, but intrigued to find someone who is not as she appears. “What are you?”

“I am not who you think I am.”

My only real issues are that the mysterious backstory never is completed on, and while it stands alone it is clearly part of an intended series. Might be worth reading the book, though.

That and the special effects, which are used carefully and well in some places, are just silly in others (notably Poseidon’s realm.) And the budget wasn’t blown on fake beards.

That said, the focus was where it should be, in my opinion: casting, acting, developing interesting characters without info dumps. I think it’s a solid movie, and I’d definitely watch the next thing to come out of this team.