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Noah (2014)
There was a time when I would have seen promotions of Noah and completely written it off. I hate religion and tend to enjoy telling people its voodoo. Why then would I be interested in the biblical retelling of the story of Noah? I’d like to think I have grown to watch any genre of film at this point, but I cannot lie and Darren Aronofsky behind the camera was the only real selling point for me. His previous work includes some of the most compelling forms of art and giving him a budget as massive as it was did enough to drag me to see his latest piece known as Noah.
We all know the basic outline of the story of Noah and surprisingly this is a very paint by numbers interpretation that I didn’t expect to get from someone like Aronofsky, who loves to be anything but ordinary. He deviates a bit with certain aspects; mainly concerning the “Watchers” who are fallen angels who have been punished for trying to help humanity right their wrongs. You’re introduced to them early on and give the audience a pause for thought. You can’t help but wonder what you’re getting yourself into, but fairly quickly they become a casual part of the film as the building of the Ark comes surprisingly early on in the film. The CGI here is very spotty with a poor use of spontaneous forests sprouting from the ground and animals of all kinds traveling to enter the Ark. It’s something that nearly pulls you out of the experience. Everything up until this point is fairly mixed. I couldn’t tell if it was heading to a place I wanted it to see, but when it becomes a simpler film with its core cast surviving on the Ark, it finds a comfortable ground for the director.
With time to finally calm down, Noah turns to its title character and lets Russell Crowe show off that he still has it that made him such a household name years ago. He faces the impossible question of man and its right to live on and it clearly eats at him. The power inside of him to choose between blind faith and his family isn’t an easy one nor does it hide from it. Aronofsky does his best to show the despicable acts of man and the punishment judged upon them, but without a harder rating, you only catch glimpse of what might have been. Unfortunately, many of the other characters are very underdeveloped and the film spends a bit too much time on a far too familiar plot involving a jealous son. That’s not to say there aren’t a slew of good performances here, especially by the woman, but this was never going to focus on them as this wasn’t there story, but it would have been a stronger film for it.
There will no doubt be a wave of controversy with the film, but there shouldn’t be. It doesn’t come off as a preachy film with a hidden agenda but rather a mild action-adventure film with a hint of substance to it. In the hands of many other directors, it wouldn’t have had a chance, but as Aronofsky’s passion project, it could have done a lot worse. Noah isn’t the kind of film I want to see Aronofsky make in the future, but it’s a good enough hiccup in an otherwise great career.
Grade: B-
There was a time when I would have seen promotions of Noah and completely written it off. I hate religion and tend to enjoy telling people its voodoo. Why then would I be interested in the biblical retelling of the story of Noah? I’d like to think I have grown to watch any genre of film at this point, but I cannot lie and Darren Aronofsky behind the camera was the only real selling point for me. His previous work includes some of the most compelling forms of art and giving him a budget as massive as it was did enough to drag me to see his latest piece known as Noah.
We all know the basic outline of the story of Noah and surprisingly this is a very paint by numbers interpretation that I didn’t expect to get from someone like Aronofsky, who loves to be anything but ordinary. He deviates a bit with certain aspects; mainly concerning the “Watchers” who are fallen angels who have been punished for trying to help humanity right their wrongs. You’re introduced to them early on and give the audience a pause for thought. You can’t help but wonder what you’re getting yourself into, but fairly quickly they become a casual part of the film as the building of the Ark comes surprisingly early on in the film. The CGI here is very spotty with a poor use of spontaneous forests sprouting from the ground and animals of all kinds traveling to enter the Ark. It’s something that nearly pulls you out of the experience. Everything up until this point is fairly mixed. I couldn’t tell if it was heading to a place I wanted it to see, but when it becomes a simpler film with its core cast surviving on the Ark, it finds a comfortable ground for the director.
With time to finally calm down, Noah turns to its title character and lets Russell Crowe show off that he still has it that made him such a household name years ago. He faces the impossible question of man and its right to live on and it clearly eats at him. The power inside of him to choose between blind faith and his family isn’t an easy one nor does it hide from it. Aronofsky does his best to show the despicable acts of man and the punishment judged upon them, but without a harder rating, you only catch glimpse of what might have been. Unfortunately, many of the other characters are very underdeveloped and the film spends a bit too much time on a far too familiar plot involving a jealous son. That’s not to say there aren’t a slew of good performances here, especially by the woman, but this was never going to focus on them as this wasn’t there story, but it would have been a stronger film for it.
There will no doubt be a wave of controversy with the film, but there shouldn’t be. It doesn’t come off as a preachy film with a hidden agenda but rather a mild action-adventure film with a hint of substance to it. In the hands of many other directors, it wouldn’t have had a chance, but as Aronofsky’s passion project, it could have done a lot worse. Noah isn’t the kind of film I want to see Aronofsky make in the future, but it’s a good enough hiccup in an otherwise great career.
Grade: B-
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