Noé

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.

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 don't understand why people hate this movie. I understand how it's pretty stupid but it still manages to entertain the viewer as well build a great amount of suspense in the 3rd act. Also props to Russell Crowe and Emma Watson for delivering great performance. Everyone else... Meh! The story is about Noah and how he is shown by god that a flood would be arriving soon due to how badly humankind has evolved. Noah and his family then go and visit Methuselah,played wonderfully by Anthony Hopkins who gives Noah his insight to building an ark. On the way Noah finds Ila who is injured badly and is unable to conceive. From there his family takes care of her and one of Noah's sons falls in love with her. 15 or so years later when Noah has almost finished building the ark a king comes and threatens him. Then the flood hits and chaos ensues with a great 3rd act and a suspenseful battle. The animals in the film looked quite unrealistic but the scene where the flood hits is outstanding and awesome. You are also introduced to these rock transformers who look cool but awfully unnecessary for a biblical film. There is also a great battle which includes them in it. The film is also enjoyable but quite slow in parts. The story is very nice and entertaining but has trouble in the 1st act by being way too slow. The 3rd act was awesome though. The script is pretty clichéd and stupid but if you endure these things you can have a good time with this film. The acting is also good but I still think that Logan Lerman is forced and too shy but he was good in the 1st Percy Jackson film. in this he didn't suit the role

Greetings again from the darkness. Since I am no biblical scholar, my comments are those of a movie lover. Tackling any part of a story from the bible is a journey filled with land mines and aggressive criticism - and that's before your movie is released! Surely director Darren Aronofsky was prepared for backlash from those who forbid any interpretation of the Good Book. The story of Noah lasts but a few pages in the bible, meaning Aronofsky had to creatively fill some space to produce a 2-plus hour film.

Russell Crowe makes a fine Noah. He is relentless in his quest to fulfill The Creator's request ... and he flashes his "Gladiator" glare on a few occasions. Rather than an uplifting childhood bedtime story, this Noah carries the burden of God, his own family and the survival of all beings ... his days are filled with moral dilemmas much larger than what you and I go through.

With all the miscommunication afforded by email and text these days, imagine if God conversed with you through images in your dreams. Maybe that process creates some areas of gray? Not if you are Noah. I guess he only dreams when God wants to show him something, so his decision making and mission is pretty focused. He is to build a giant floating warehouse to save two of every creature. Yes, that means a lot of death for those not invited. See, God is using Noah and his family to help cleanse the earth of mankind ... God is ready for a re-boot. He is really not happy with how mean and nasty man has become ever since that whole apple debacle and the murder of Abel by Cain.

Some of the visual effects are spectacular. I especially enjoyed the high-speed montage showing the creation of life ... you know that first week. Also, the beginning of the flood is quite a spectacle, but the ark itself is actually quite stunning ... constructed per the size noted in the Bible. The animals are all digitally created and we actually see little of them, though the on-boarding process goes remarkably smooth - considering this happens before the herbal sleep concoction is disbursed.

Most of the discussion will probably be on The Watchers ... the fallen angels who once tried to help mankind, and for their efforts, God turned them into giant stone creatures. I will add that The Watchers need a new nickname since they did the bulk of the manual labor in constructing the arc and then protecting it ... not much watching going on for these poor guys (voiced by Nick Nolte and Frank Langella, among others).

Noah's wife is played by Jennifer Connelly and their sons are played by Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth and Leo McHugh Carroll. They welcome Emma Watson into their family in what turns into a very odd plot twist, and the villain, Tubal-Cain is payed by Ray Winstone. Methuselah, Noah's grandfather, is played to the hilt by Anthony Hopkins. All of these characters are pretty one dimensional, but this is Noah's story. The burden he carries is quite heavy and his decisions aren't always popular.

If you are looking for the well documented story of Noah, it's no mystery what book you should be reading. If you are after a pretty impressive visual interpretation, you could certainly do worse than Aronofsky's take. And the best news ... no Morgan Freeman voice-over!

The film reaches a good level of quality. The character interpretations are decent. The story is not exciting. It contains action, drama and biblical teaching from a modern point of view, it's written to approach new audiences. Quite often I find that some of the actors exaggerate when they scream and cry; Ray and Russell are handling very well not to get out of their paths. I would have given more stars but it is very annoying when within the dialogs and the biblical teachings there are actors who impose their presence above the calibration of their colleagues. Very nice photography and intelligent scenery with smooth advanced effects which give life to the narrated story of Noah. Creator and creations, will and desire, all are placed together and in the end it all makes sense.