Noah Review

Rated PG-13 (Violence, Disturbing Images and Brief Suggestive Content)

Running Time: 2 Hours & 18 Minutes

Cast-

Russell Crowe-Noah

Jennifer Connelly-Naameh

Douglas Booth-Shem

Emma Watson-Ila

Logan Lerman-Ham

Leo McHugh Carroll-Japheth

Ray Winstone-Tubal-cain

Anthony Hopkins-Methuselah

Madison Davenport-Na'el

Marton Csokas-Lamech

Nick Nolte (voice)-Samyaza

Frank Langella (voice)-Og

Kevin Durand (voice)-Rameel

Mark Margolis (voice)-Magog

Dakota Goyo-Young Noah

Gavin Casalegno-Young Shem

Nolan Gross-Young Ham

Skylar Burke-Young Ila

Adam Marshall Griffith-Adam

Ariane Rinehart-Eve

Directed by Darren Aronofsky

I...AM...NOAH!!!

Note: Screened on Wednesday, March 26, 2014 at the Zeigfeld Theatre (Red Carpet Premiere). For those of you who want to read Aronofsky's poem, go here.

Darren Aronofsky certainly has one f*cked-up mind but that's precisely the reason why he's one of my favorite filmmakers. In his 1998 directorial debut "Pi," brilliant number theorist Maximillian 'Max' Cohen decides to put a power drill through his own brain. In 2000's "Requiem for a Dream," the four central characters become consumed by their drug addictions, with the film ending in a montage where each of them endures electroshock therapy, prison, amputation, and prostitution, respectively. In 2006's highly underrated "The Fountain," a man desperately tries to save his cancer-stricken wife in a story spanning both time and space. In 2008's "The Wrestler," a washed-up professional wrestler fights to reclaim his former glory in spite of his failing health. And finally, 2010's "Black Swan" saw Natalie Portman's Nina Sayers sprout wings and literally transform into the eponymous black swan. Oh, and did I mention that Winona Ryder's character repeatedly stabs herself in the face with a nail file? As you can see, this is a director that doesn't care about pleasing audiences, critics, or studio executives. For Aronofsky, there's only the story and whatever crazy voices that are screaming inside his head. Given the amount of controversy his work has received, plus the well-publicized box office failure of "The Fountain," I'm frankly amazed that Paramount Pictures willingly gave Aronofsky $125 million to shoot his interpretation of Noah's Ark, which comprises chapters six to nine in the Bible's Book of Genesis. So what do you get when you give a stubbornly independent-minded director a blockbuster-size budget and a script inspired by one of the most well-known stories of all time? The answer: one of the best films of 2014. Darren Aronofsky's "Noah" is ambitious, fascinating, and frequently challenging, a visually stunning and often intensely bleak picture that explores the nature of faith in ways that will both offend and inspire.

'In the beginning, there was nothing.' The Creator (substituting for the word 'God') breathed life into this formless void over the course of six days and formed in His own image, Adam (Adam Marshall Griffith) and Eve (Ariane Rinehart), the first man and woman. However, Eve is tricked by the Serpent into eating the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden. She shares the fruit with Adam, and when the Creator discovers what they've done, He casts them out of Eden as punishment. Following their expulsion, Eve gives birth to Cain and Abel, and eventually Seth. Unfortunately, Cain ends up being consumed with jealously due to the Creator's favoritism toward Abel and he subsequently murders his brother. Cain's descendants eventually spread across the Earth in great industrial cities, choking the planet with their waste and evil. Meanwhile, Seth and his descendants remain faithful to the Creator. One of those descendants is Noah (Russell Crowe), who leads a simple nomadic lifestyle with his wife Naameh (Jennifer Connelly) and their three children, Shem (Douglas Booth), Ham (Logan Lerman), and Japheth (Leo McHugh Carroll). Also amongst their group is Ila (Emma Watson), whom Noah and Naameh adopted when they found her barely alive as a little girl, her family killed by Cain's people. As a young boy, Noah witnessed his father Lamech (Marton Csokas) murdered at the hands of Tubal-cain (Ray Winstone). Plagued by apocalyptic visions of the world being drowned in water, Noah—along with his family—travels to confer with his grandfather Methuselah (Anthony Hopkins) and learns that he is to build a great ark that will serve as a refuge for all the animal species when the Creator floods the world in a great deluge, annihilating mankind for their evil ways. With the help of a group of fallen angels called the Watchers, Noah commences with his task while fending off Tubal-cain and his heathen followers. However, he becomes convinced that he and his family are just as wicked as the rest of humanity and decides that once the task is complete, they will let themselves die in order to free the Earth from sin.

The story of Noah's Ark has fascinated Darren Aronofsky since he was a boy. Prior to the screening of the film at Wednesday's star-studded New York premiere, he invited his seventh grade English teacher to the stage and asked her to read a poem he had written in class, titled The Dove. It was about how evil will always lurk in men's hearts but as long as there is good in the world, then hope remains. In an interview with The Atlantic, Aronofsky modestly remarks that the poem is 'not very good—it was written quickly at the beginning of…class.' However, I beg to differ. You ask any student today to write like that and they'll just as soon ask you what the heck a poem is! I'm not even exaggerating here; I have a friend who actually teaches English at a junior high school. The point is, even at age thirteen, Aronofsky was already showing signs of his talent as a writer and it seems he was destined to bring the Old Testament story to the big screen. Unfortunately, "Noah" has been hit with a wave of controversy as the film's release date drew near. If you've read the original text in the Bible, then you should know that what's there barely qualifies as a story. It's not even a summary, more like a loose skeletal framework. Of course, that hasn't stopped purists from complaining that Aronofsky and his frequent collaborator Ari Handel was taking too many liberties when the fact is, they haven't. Look, the Bible is not a historical text; the stories within are about as real as Grimm's Fairy Tales and are best viewed as a series of morality lessons. Like all myths that have been brought to life on the big screen, the story of Noah's Ark is subject to the interpretation of the director and writer. That's what Aronofsky has done with "Noah": bring his interpretation of the story to life. If that 'offends' you, don't go see the film. On the other end of the spectrum, if you are a hardcore atheist who bristles at the mere mention of the Bible, don't go see the film either. However, if you are open minded, then you'll find that not only is "Noah" entertaining, it's also a daring, ambitious picture that examines the nature of faith and what can happen when that faith turns into fanaticism. Of course, if that's not your cup of tea, there's also a bunch of rock monsters that participate in a huge "Lord of the Rings"-style battle. Do I have your attention now?

The first thing that struck me about "Noah" is the way the film envisions its setting. It could take place thousands of years in the past but also thousands of years in the future, where humanity has completely drained the planet of its natural resources, leaving in its place a barren landscape. It feels almost post-apocalyptic. Given how thread-bare the original text is, many of Aronofsky and Handel's embellishments are used to logically explain how these events took place while remaining as true to the source material as possible. For example, it's never explicitly revealed how Noah actually built the ark; the text just states he 'did this; he did all that God commanded him.' Hell, I don't even think the writers for the Bible even knew; apparently you just have to accept it on blind faith alone. The film shows that the ark was made possible thanks to the help of the Watchers. By far the picture's most fantastical element, the Watchers are taken from the Book of Enoch, an ancient Jewish religious work that dates back to 300 BC. It tells the tale of a group of angels who willingly gave up their divinity to help mankind after Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden. However, this was against God's will and so He punished them by encasing their beautiful forms with mud and stone when they descended upon the Earth. Things didn't get any better as the Watchers quickly fall victim to the tyranny of Man after helping them and are only rescued from annihilation by Methuselah. Because of their persecution, they refuse to help Noah and only do so when a seed—given to him by his grandfather and said to have come from the Garden of Eden itself—grows into an entire forest within seconds before their eyes. This convinces the Watchers that Noah has been chosen by the Creator and they assist him in building the ark. For some viewers, the inclusion of these creatures (which resemble the Ents from the "Lord of the Rings") will prove to be too silly to take seriously but given the already mythic quality to the story, it really shouldn't be. If you can believe in an ark containing two of every animal, you can certainly believe this.

The second thing that struck me about "Noah" is the way the film is structured. At its core, this is a disaster flick and these types of films tend to save said 'disaster' for the end. Not this one. The flood occurs around the forty minute mark and it left me wondering where Aronofsky was going with the story. Although there are themes of environmentalism, it's really more of a springboard toward an examination of faith. As the cataclysm draws near, Noah sneaks into Tubal-cain's camp to find wives for his three sons. Ila, whom Shem is in love with, unfortunately cannot bear children due to the wound she received when she was a child. What Noah sees in the camp horrifies him. With all the animals gone, Tubal-cain's followers have resorted to cannibalizing women and children and the sight of this leaves Noah completely disillusioned. He decides that humanity isn't worth saving and reveals to a shocked Naameh that once their task is done, they will let themselves die. This is the part that will likely offend viewers as Aronofsky and Handel goes to some very dark, very bleak places that I'm honestly surprised that they got away with a PG-13 rating. Noah believes that the Creator chose him because of his faith but what happens when that faith turns into fanaticism? What happens when that faith means going against every moral fiber of your being? These questions make for a fascinating character study and I really have to praise Aronofsky for having the guts to ask them regardless if they offend or not. Shouldn't good art ask questions and promote healthy discussion? This is why I think religious audiences are complaining; they don't want to ask questions because they feel it delegitimizes their faith.

Given all its philosophizing, it's easy to forget about the film's visuals. One breathtaking sequence shows the Seven Days of Creation via time-lapse photography and it makes for a strong case about how science and religion need not be mutually exclusive. The work from Industrial Light and Magic is amazing and on the whole, "Noah" is a beautiful film to look at thanks to Matthew Libatique's gorgeous cinematography, with Clint Mansell's score booming in power and urgency. The performances are impressive as well, with Russell Crowe delivering his best work since 2001's "A Beautiful Mind." Crowe's Noah is a hardened warrior and survivalist whose faith informs his every decision but even when his character takes a menacing turn, he remains sympathetic and you really feel the entire weight of his task on his shoulders. Jennifer Connelly is equally as strong in her role as Noah's wife Naameh. There's a particularly heart-wrenching moment where her character begs Noah to punish her over their children and the intensity that Connelly brings to that scene is incredible. Emma Watson is another standout as she's responsible for what is by far the toughest scene in the film and the way she handles it will leave you shaken. Logan Lerman is also good, although I feel that his character's conflict with his father could've been developed a little more. The great Ray Winstone turns in a scenery-chewing performance as Tubal-cain, a barbaric character for sure yet you can't completely hate him given his stance that humanity shouldn't be shackled to a higher being who doesn't even bother to answer back. Anthony Hopkins adds warmth and some welcome comic relief as Noah's grandfather Methuselah, which leaves poor Douglas Booth as the only cast member that feels wasted. He's not bad but it feels like he was included just so Watson wouldn't have to stand next to someone ugly.

Released on March 28, 2014, "Noah" has received largely positive reviews with 76% on Rotten Tomatoes. Critics praised Aronofsky for bringing 'the Bible epic into the twenty-first century' as well as the film's 'sweeping visuals [that were] grounded by strong performances in service of a timeless tale told on a human scale.' Although it's poised to earn over $40 million during opening weekend, audiences have not responded well to "Noah," which isn't at all surprising since Aronofsky's work often tends to invite polarizing reactions. Hardcore religious folks won't like it because the picture isn't exactly like the Bible while mainstream moviegoers will likely find the second half too dark and disturbing for them to enjoy. The only people that will respond well to the film, as Film School Rejects' Nathan Adams puts it, are those who 'regularly seek out risk-taking, emotionally authentic art in all of its forms.' Darren Aronofsky's "Noah" is truly unlike any big-budget blockbuster I've seen. It's daring and passionate in ways you wouldn't expect and I urge everyone to go see it and most importantly, keep in open mind. This is the kind of filmmaking that Hollywood should support more.

Final Rating: 4.5 out of 5

"Our family has a great task. A great flood is coming. It cannot be stopped but it can be survived."