Noah

Starring: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Ray Winstone, Logan Lerman, Anthony Hopkins, Douglas Booth, Nick Nolte (voice), Kevin Durand, Frank Langella (voice)
Directed by: Darren Aronofsky
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Drama, Adventure
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: Noah (Russell Crowe) is chosen by the Creator of the world to build an ark and to save the animals from an impending worldwide flood.

Review:

Tim: I was very intrigued to see Darren Aronofsky's Noah. The film was incredibly controversial before it even came out (as are many Biblical movies). The controversy was widespread, but it was obvious that Aronofsky took some liberties with the Biblical story of Noah. Aronofsky is certainly not your conventional filmmaker, so I was interested to see what he would do here.

For the most part, I thought the film did a good job of capturing the essence of the story of Noah. The film doesn't follow the Bible word for word, as the story of Noah is fairly brief. They needed to expand beyond the written words. It was obvious that Aronofsky and his cowriter did some legitimate research before writing the script. That shows up, and I liked how they used names and references from the Bible to expand the story to feature film length. To be honest, at 138 minutes, the film felt a bit too long. They could have easily cut 20 minutes from the film and not lost much.

I thought some of the decisions Aronosky made were fairly interesting. The idea of the fallen angels becoming these strange rock creatures was very unexpected. Having these "Watchers" on Earth might have been a major point of contention for the ultra religious, but I actually liked this component of the film. One of the great achievements of Noah is that it really takes you to a faraway place that is very different from the world we live in. We sometimes forget how close Noah's generation was to the first human beings, Adam and Eve (if you are a Creationist, of course). The world depicted here was very different- you can see stars during the day, there are fallen angel rock creatures, you have people refer to God as "The Creator" and still expect Him to speak directly to them. I love how Aronofsky created this world that felt very ancient.

The cast was good. Russell Crowe does a good job, although I wouldn't put this among his best performances. The greatest part of his performance is the transition he makes roughly 1/2 way through the film. He is still the God-fearing man we've come to know, but he feels convinced that God want the human race to die out. He goes from a protagonist to a bit of an antagonist in a very short amount of time. This could have been ridiculous, but his performance makes the change believable. Jennifer Connelly didn't have much to do, but she shines in a few emotional scenes near the end. Emma Watson was fine. I wasn't totally convinced by her performance, but I like that she's trying different things. Ray Winstone was well past as the film's main antagonist and brings a visual physical presence to match Crowe's. Logan Lerman did good here and I hope he continues to build his solid Hollywood career. I always love seeing Anthony Hopkins, but I wish he had more screen time. It felt like Douglas Booth was miscast- he can't hold a candle up to anyone else in the cast. His performance was wooden and completely forgettable. He really hurt the film.

Aronofsky does good work with the visuals- the myriad animals coming to the Ark looked believable. I love the little explanation they gave about how the animals found the Ark (they followed a stream that cuts through the desolate wasteland). This is one of the most challenging aspects in portraying the story of Noah in a visual medium- how do you make the two-by-two not look utterly ridiculous? Aronofsky pulls it off. The floods featured some great scenes, too. I do wish they depicted the flood in a bit more epic fashion, but it does look quite impressive on screen. I also liked the depiction of the Ark- while it adheres to the details in the Bible, it flies in the face of what many expected it to look like.

One issue (this is your SPOILER ALERT) I had with the film does involve the transition from Noah as loving family man to a God-empowered man who is determined to end the human race and kill his own grandchildren if necessary. I understand why this was done- Noah felt like he was following the will of God. It's fascinating in a way- how deep is Noah's faith, that he would be the instrument that ends the entire human race for all time? That inner struggle would be monumental. Crowe's performance is good, but the depiction on screen felt a little off. I don't think Aronofsky hit the right tone. It creates this disjointed feeling- Noah is a cool guy, and then all of a sudden, it's almost like watching a psychological thriller, as Noah's faith in God leads him to the brink of committing very heinous acts. I don't think the film depicted in this the right way. It was unsettling to watch, but not in a good way. We needed to see more of Noah's struggle, rather than sort of wondering if the guy had just completely lost his mind. It would have been more powerful to see him struggling more. The way it unfolds in the movie, it gives the last third of the film a weird, surreal quality.

Aronofsky did manage to tell a very good story about Noah. I don't doubt the immense challenges it took to bring this story to light. I don't fault him for some of his more controversial choices, but I can't say he managed a great film here. It's impressive visually and does stir the thoughts about faith and what it means for us. However, the cast could have delivered better performances as a whole and Aronofsky could have delivered a better third act. Noah is a good film, but with a director as talented as Aronofsky, good isn't quite good enough.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



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