Noah

This is a hard movie to watch and rate. The Good: The images of the flood coming from both above and below the earth were spectacular. The trauma that Noah deals with during the flood and post-flood is beautifully depicted. I loved the image of Noah realizing that the ‘sickness’ is in him as well as the others. The story-telling of creation to fall to the flood was beautifully done. I also liked the tension of Noah and the family on the ark as they wrestle with the possibility that the Creator has forgotten them. So with all that good, what ruins the movie? I do think a director/writer has an obligation to the source material. Subtract the religious aspect of this movie and imagine the outrage if someone changed the story of Harry Potter or Thor. (Oh wait…they are doing that.) Point is: if you have source material, use it. Go ahead and be creative when there are blanks to fill in but why have source material if you're not going to use it? The director did merge two ancient flood stories – the Bible and the Babylonian Enuma Elish. In the end – neither tradition gets a clear telling of their story. Other issues? The role of Methusala was a complete waste of the talented Anthony Hopkins. And I still have no idea as to why he was even in the film. The conclusion felt hollow and rushed. Noah at the beginning of the film leads an isolationist lifestyle focused on raising his children to be good stewards of the earth. How is this different at the end of the film? It's not. Their understanding of life, the Creator, the world isn't any different than the beginning. There really isn't a pay off to the story...at all. It's just an average film and I expected more with this cast.

Watching Noah, it occurs to me that it must have been made by atheists. After all, they are treating the Word of God as little more than a first draft. On the other hand, though, co-writer/director Darren Aronofsky isn’t fucking around with the old "thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain," making sure to substitute the G word with the epithet "the Creator." Thus, Noah (Russell Crowe) tells his wife Naamah (Jennifer Connelly) that “[the Creator] is going to destroy the world” (after which he will presumably be known as “the Destroyer”) by way of a flood, which may have given rise to the expression 'when it rains it pours;' I mean, the characters are already living in a post-apocalyptic wasteland; destroying it would certainly qualify as overkill. Noah turns to his grandfather Methuselah (Anthony Hopkins) for advice — by the way, according to the Bible, Noah invented wine, but what the Good Book doesn’t say is that Methuselah invented tea; the latter is a miracle in itself, since water and leaves, the two essential ingredients to prepare this beverage (not to mention the fuel needed to start a fire and the kindle to keep it burning), are entirely conspicuous by their absence. Luckily, Methuselah has a magical seed that can grow an entire forest overnight, but which he had apparently been saving to give to Noah. Noah uses the wood from the trees in this forest to build the Ark, which follows the Field of Dreams Principle; i.e., 'If you build it, they will come' — 'they' being two of each animal, all of which without exception clearly belong to the computatrum generatae genus, but then the visual effects are one of the few pleasures to be had here; in particular the “Watchers” (fallen angels turned into semi-anthropomorphic rock formations voiced by Frank Langella and Nick Nolte, among others), as well as the montage that accompanies Noah's narration of Genesis. Additionally, the Ark itself and the accompanying flood are not unimpressive, and I like how Aronofsky has Noah's sons succumb to Rapid Aging Syndrome to indicate the passage of the many years it would take to complete such a gargantuan project. The problem with this is that they grow up to be Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth, etc., all of them with impossibly perfect hair, skin, and teeth (unless, of course, Methuselah also invented shampoo and toothpaste, in addition to tea). All things considered, however, the real highlight of the film is Ray Winstone's performance as Tubalcaín. Winstone is nominally the villain, but his character is really the most sensible of all (and Winstone’s delivery lends eve more weight to his convictions), correctly pointing out that both the Creator and the proto-David Koresh that Crowe plays Noah as — although his madness is justifiable; "if the noise of all those animals didn't drive Noah insane (not to mention the insect bites), the smell should have killed him" (The Skeptic’s Dictionary) — have become drunk with power.