Noah

Quickie Review:

Noah is a new epic that is based on the biblical story, and helmed by director Darren Aronofsky. The story is about a man who is tasked with building an ark to save the innocent, from the cleansing of the world by a great flood. With a stellar cast of Russell Crowe (Noah), Jennifer Connelly (Naameh), Ray Winstone (Tubal-cain), Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Anthony Hopkins, and Nick Nolte, Noah truly had everything right to be an incredible movie. Unfortunately, the pacing of the third act falters and all the character development of the main cast is spiked up to the extreme, rendering them completely un-relatable. In the end, this is quite a forgettable movie that doesn't need to be seen from a purely movie quality perspective.

Full Review:

I feel that I should state this before I go any further – I do not affiliate myself with any religion, nor am I against religion. This review comes purely from someone who loves movies in general. Nothing more, nothing less.

With that out of the way, let's move on with the review. In the movie, Noah (Russell Crowe) lives in a dark world that is corrupted by wickedness. He receives messages from the creator, showing him visions of a great flood that covers the whole world. Noah must now build an ark with his family to save the innocent (all wildlife other than mankind).

I'll start off with some things that I did like about this movie. Normally Darren Aronofsky is known for tackling deeply personal stories that are more of a character study. It is nice to see him break from his norm and make a movie of a much grander scale, while still bringing his touch when it comes to developing his characters, especially with Noah. Russell Crowe should also be commended for his great performance. Just from his facial expression, you can tell how much burden he feels weighing on his shoulders. The world that is created is extremely well realized. The atmosphere is dark and drab, and you really feel the rotting air of the world. Overall the movie was captivating and well- paced… right up until the third act, after the flood scene.

Third act is really where everything just falls apart. Now I won't spoil anything, for anyone who wants to watch the movie. Still I need to mention few things to explain why things go wrong for this movie. For some reason the whole cast makes a sudden shift from balanced and complex characters, to be completely driven and defined by their base instincts. So for example, Noah becomes completely blinded by his devotion and divine purpose that he almost becomes villainous. These changes in character comes so suddenly that it feels out of place. Also the movie comes to such a snail crawling pace that I felt the need to check my watch a few times.

This was a movie that had the potential to be a great character driven movie, set in an epic scale. It did show this promise for the most part in the beginning. However, a sudden change in tone and pacing issues ended up making it feel like it was dragging on. I say skip this movie, because even if you watch it, you will forget about it in a few days.

I was really looking forward to this for one reason and one reason only . The director Darren Aronofsky is just about the most interesting director working today . He doesn't always hit the bullseye but he did direct REQUIEM FOR A DREAM one of the very few films I would describe as a masterpiece and he really upset an uninformed audience who went in to BLACK SWAN thinking it was going to be a high brow film featuring ballet as its theme . Indeed the only time I've seen audience members walk out in obvious disgust was during a screening of BLACK SWAN . With a title like NOAH one wondered Aronofsky might have the same effect on Christians . This is a film that promised to be controversial and as soon as preview audiences saw it there was a very sharp divide between love and hate . Interesting that it had an average rating of 8.8 then quickly started falling as people on this site gave it bad reviews . One can't help thinking there's a campaign by religious believers who seem angry at this film because it deviates from scripture . As an anti-theist my only reservations before seeing it were that the trailers looked like it was inspired by Peter Jackson's version of Tolkien

The bad news is that we've got Peter Jackson meets Peter Watkins meets Professor James Lovelock . NOAH is a heavily religious film as you might expect but not in the way you're expecting . From the outset we're told that the tribe of Cain have built " industrial cities " and it's this that has brought " the wrath of the creator " . It's not the religion of the Abrahamic cult but the cult of environmentalism and Gaia theory . The subtext is so obvious that it doesn't qualify as subtext because it's far too blatant . Noah and his family are all vegetarians who don't eat meat while the villain Tubal-Cain does because .... well he's the bad guy . Actually this is the major failing of the film . There's no one to root for because the screenplay is an absolute mess . Tubal Cain shows signs of Darwinian practicalities by eating animals in order to survive but there's no real in depth psychological analysis to the character . He wants the Ark because the story needs a villain and is so overdone you're surprised why the other characters can't see through him . . Noah isn't any better because he's an animal loving psychotic misanthrope . Can you think of any obvious society full of nature loving animal loving psychotic misanthropes ? I'll give you a clue . It was a Central European country built on Neo-Pagan ideals that used an ancient Sanskrit symbol and lasted from 1933 to 1945 . People should stop to consider who they should adopt as role models and when people treat environmentalism as a religion bad things will surely happen but we're ordered to take the side of environmentalism and not to question it

In the hands of a lesser director NOAH would have sunk at the box office but thankfully we are talking about Aronofsky . And the good news he's reigned in some the excesses that made me hate THE FOUNTAIN . Yes it owes a lot to Peter Jackson but Aronofsky recognises the strengths of Jackson when he made the LOTR trilogy . We see beautiful locations that captures the bleak brutal beauty of nature throughout the film and some of the cinematography is genuinely stunning . The cast are rather uneven which is hardly surprising considering the screenplay and an audience will find their performances divisive , none more so in Crowe . Connelly is rather bland , Winstone is rather one note and is ...well Ray Winstone .love him or loathe him . By far the best performance is by ,Emma Watson as Ila who might have been a mere cypher or plot device and yet manages to flesh out her role without being showy in any way .

In summary NOAH might just fall in to a" flawed masterpiece /interesting failure " camp . It's an extraordinarily beautiful looking film that I'll buy on DVD and one hopes it'll be up for Best Director , cinematography and score when the Oscars come around but since it's been released in the Spring the studio don't seem to have much ( Pardon the pun ) faith in it and it'll be quickly forgotten . While the visuals deliver it does have a very sententious , sombre confusing screenplay that feels the need to both shout at and talk down to the audience . Whatever the flaws of this film it still showcases the talents of Aronofsky and here's to the future and whatever it brings

Am I compromised? Is this review tainted because I'm a Catholic cinephile? If you've seen my star rating than you probably figured you can rule that out. I was excited, A film from Darren Aronofsky is an event for me akin to the Olympics. That is, many years pass between his films, and when they arrive, they're freaking awesome.

Within the first few minutes, all my pent-up affection leaked away. Despite Noah's fervent source material (and that's as religious as I'll get in this review, pipe down) the narrative is extraordinarily weak, and the plot feels empty, despite the 138 minute runtime. The acting is terrible, especially from Emma Watson. (it's time we stop considering her an actress and call her what she is; a model) Even the brilliant Jennifer Connelly uncomfortably shifts between hammy underacting and cringe-inducing overacting. There is no progression or cohesiveness, Noah is corrupted by a jumpiness that completely disconnects you from the film. And it uses it's largely, if 100%, CGI landscape as a crutch instead of a supplement.

But the real kicker, the REAL kicker, is that there is no evidence Darren Aronofsky had any part in this film. His trademark deep darkness isn't there, his infinitely interpretable script isn't there, and his quick-cut, close-up camera isn't there. You could've told me f*****g Brett Ratner directed this and I would've believed you.

It probably would've been more efficient for me to layout this review with bullet points. Noah's whole ethos counters what I stand for. It's the sort of blinged up executive express that takes a brilliant story in vain, and tries to pass as profound. I have nothing but contempt for this movie.

I'll start by stating I'm a Christian, and of course the movie is different from the Genesis account, because it also adds a bit from the Apocryphal text of the Book of Enoch, although there are differences there too, and it's a movie and needs embellishing because Noah's story is only like three pages. Artistic license in any film is a given. You think Braveheart is historically accurate? No, but it's a darn good film and nonetheless it's true.

I believe Christians get too caught up in the "letter of the story" and can't accept the Spirit of a story. Noah is a deeply complicated man in this film, as all people prophets of God are. I felt the filmmakers captured the spirit of the man well. I love how it shows his personal struggle to even want to save mankind after witnessing the violence and depravity of most of his fellow beings. Do we deserve to survive? The movie tackles that head on and says unequivocally ,"Yes!" in the end. God loves us and knows we can be good if we choose to follow him.

The story is fun, uplifting, and shows the true difficulty of interpreting and following the will of God. This film shows the power of forgiveness and redemption also, first with the fallen "Watchers" from the Book of Enoch, and then Noah's family as well. The Watchers also gave the film a "Lord of the Rings" vibe which I appreciate. The story is complicated and there are moral dilemmas to be solved.

Is it a perfect film? Heavens no! But it is a good one and made me appreciate what Noah and his family may have gone through in all its richness and complexity, and made me grateful to have Mr. And Mrs. Noah as my ancient covenant parents. I enjoyed it thoroughly and will watch it again one day.

I came into this movie without any foreknowledge of how the story would be presented so I was quite surprised that it turned out to be a movie about environmentalism rather than religious sin or anything like that. On the contrary while the movie does highlight what is good about religion, at the end Russel Crowe's Noah goes into a state that warns of the dangers of religious fundamentalism and what such people are capable of doing. All the same I think this film has a good chance of reaching those who need to get the message about climate change and animal rights the most. Noah presents us with an earth that is dying and will be flooded. Just like some scientists predict that the ice caps may melt and flood coastal areas. Just as in our world, Noah's world has naysayers as well. The film asks us to consider what a good person is and why bad people act the way they do. With the level of senseless violence that modern society is plagued by these are certainly valid questions. Russel Crowe does a job of playing the sober Noah who is tasked with doing a job for God rescuing the innocent animals. When he finally does display an outburst of emotion it is all the more dramatic because he is so steady throughout the earlier portions of the movie and leaves a lasting impression with us when we leave the theatre. My only complaint is that the film runs a little long drawing down.