Noah review

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The new film by director Darren Aronofsky has been divisive and controversial. So, what side do I fall on? Find out below the break!

Noah is... You know what, you know what this is. It's an adaptation of the Bible. You know the story. If you don't, it's about Noah and his family building an ark to escape the flood of god. Aronofsky's touch re-imagines the story on a personal level, while still maintaining an air of grandiosity that can't be avoided when the scope of your movie is literally biblical. For the most part, it's successful, but occasionally the film gets silly because of the aforementioned grandiosity. Between the time-lapses, the shots of the heavens, and all of the drama, there is a bit of silliness here. As the film takes itself consistently seriously, this causes some problems.

It's clear that Aronofsky had a distinct artistic vision with this film, and the adaptation is interesting. Before the flood, the Earth is depicted with a desolate, barren landscape. Much of what's shown here shows a very fantasy film-esque world, full of magic and strange creatures. I never fully understood everything in the film. A lot of the more "fantastical" elements aren't quite explained, though that's not necessarily a major flaw.

What is interesting is how the story is less about god than about Noah and his family. The main cast consists of three-dimensional, fleshed out individuals, and their own personal struggles are engaging. This creates a thematically rich environment. Each character has their own set of motivations that affect how they perceive events, and this gives the story weight and depth. It helps that the acting is excellent, especially a powerful performance by Russell Crowe as Noah. The details of the characters' emotions shine through because of the actors' incredible talents.

On the other hand, beneath all of the bombast one of the main themes is somewhat obscured. The environmental theme eventually does poke through, but I can imagine it would be difficult to miss. Other themes include the ambivalence of god.  Aronofsky does an excellent job of showing the higher power's will as difficult to comprehend, which is something many religious people will inform you of in regards to the scripture itself. There's a lot going on in this film, and almost all of these things make the film more compelling.

Visually, Noah has some really impressive computer graphics, for the most part at least. There was one point a pair of doves were travelling through various locations, but it was extremely obvious that these doves were in front of a green screen. Otherwise, however, the CGI blended well with the real elements, and resulted in some pretty impressive set pieces when the camera held still. However, the cinematography often used shaking and quick cuts, to mixed results. In some cases, it helps the atmosphere, but a lot of the time it's obvious that the film is cut this way to keep it PG-13. Thankfully, that doesn't distract too much from the film's better qualities.

Ultimately, Noah is a very good film. While the grandiosity of its vision does occasionally cause problems, it's still a compelling, fascinating take on the biblical story. It could have benefited from not shooting for a PG-13, but it's definitely worth a watch.

8/10

Extended thoughts (spoilers)