Noah

Running Time: 2 hours 18 minutes

Rating: PG-13

Synopsis:

Since Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden, mankind slowly grew more and more wicked. Eventually the time came when the Earth had been so poisoned by the sins of men that God decided to send a flood to cleanse it. Noah (Russell Crowe) has had visions warning him of the impending flood and directing him to build an Ark to help him, his family and the flocks and herds of animals who will replenish the Earth, survive it. When the king, Tubal-Cain (Ray Winstone) hears of Noah and the miracles surrounding him he comes to kill Noah’s family and seize the Ark. 

Scott’s Review:

No beating around the bush, I hated this movie. Darren Aronofsky is one of the most bewildering and maddening writer/directors in the movie business. The man has a great skill in crafting striking visual imagery and coaxing good performances out of actors, but he also seems hell-bent on alienating the audiences that come to his movies. It is all too obvious that he wasn’t very interested in telling the biblical story of Noah, so he decided to bend and warp the story to suit himself. The choices he makes, including but not limited to: adding a group of fallen angel/rock monsters who help Noah build the Ark, having tools and machinery way too advanced for the era and making Noah a villain for the final 3rd of the film are incomprehensible to me. I can understand wanting to use some artistic license to make the story more cinematic, but if you don’t want to make a movie about Noah, DIRECT SOMETHING ELSE! 

I almost pity the actors, because they wanted to work with the auteur who made The Black Swan, but they got the lunatic who directed The Fountain. Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly and Emma Watson all do very nice work in the roles they are given, but there is only so much they can do. Once Aronofsky’s ham-fisted attempt at creating tension in the 3rd act becomes evident, (turning Noah from a man who values life above all else to a man who lets a little girl die and is willing to murder his own grandchildren) you realize that this supposed Biblical Epic, while striving for epic has turned its back on Biblical. At a certain point I couldn’t wait for it to end. F