Noah

Noah

Starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Emma Watson

Directed by Darren Aronofsky 

Noah (Russell Crowe) is the last in the righteous godly line of Seth, and has a vision from the Creator (aka God) that He will destroy the world with flood due to the unrighteousness and sinfulness of man from the line of Cain.  He instructs Noah to build an ark and keep two of each animal on it, and the earth will be flooded and the wicked would drown.

Together with his wife Naameh (Jennifer Connelly), his sons Ham (Logan Lerman), Shem (Douglas Booth) and Japheth (Leo Carroll), and Shem's girlfriend Ila (Emma Watson) - together with angels who came to earth to help humans but ended up trapped in the form of rock creatures - Noah builds a massive ark.  The ruler of the land, Tubal-cain (Ray Winstone), wants the ark for himself and sets an army to take it over, but once the rain begins to fall, all hope is lost for the wicked world of men.

Clearly this film was an adaptation of the famous Biblical story, and since it was directed by an atheist (and, by far, one of the most prolific directors of our time), I went into the film knowing it wasn't going to be Biblically based, and I knew to look past my own Christian views and experience what I was hoping would be another Aronofsky classic.

The first half of the film was highly enjoyable.  The effects were dazzling, the cinematography was excellent, and Crowe and company delivered in the acting departments.  It was done so well I could easily overlook the "possibly fallen angels though they still loved the Creator but wanted to help man but instead became rock monsters who helped build the ark" story as well as Methuselah (brilliantly done by Anthony Hopkins) still being alive and having magical powers (I called him "Magical Methuselah").

The problem began with Ham (Logan Lerman), whom quite easily became one of my most hated characters in any film I've seen in a good long while.  I referred to him as "Horny Ham" because all he did throughout the film was whine about not having a girlfriend like Shem did, and did every stupid thing imaginable to get one, even despising his father who was trying to save him.  He was the most annoying character and I hated seeing him on screen.

After the flood, the movie went downhill fast.  I can't go into details because it'd give stuff away, but Noah himself does a wicked 180 from a righteous man to a deranged zealot, and that's just one of the many issues I had with the second half of the film.

Most Christians have issue with the name of God not being mentioned, but instead referring to Him as The Creator.  I have no issue with this, because God did indeed create everything.  The tone of environmentalism has also been a great complaint, but that too didn't bother me.  Noah was instructed to build an ark, rescue two of every animal to keep them populated, and he did that.  I can see how it shows the "evil" of men through industrialization and eating the animals, but they weren't huge selling points to me.

Totally off topic, but I thought it was Mickey Rourke playing the main bad guy, not Ray Winstone.

I went into the film with a completely open mind and a desire for another great Aronofsky film (I highly recommend his previous works "Black Swan," "Pi" and especially "Requiem for a Dream"), but what I got was a very disjointed mess done by a man who wanted to prove the Bible wrong and went to great lengths to destroy one of its best characters. 

My Rating: B-