Being a big fan of last year's Man of Steel, I found myself distracted during my screening of Darren Aronofksy's new film Noah, because whenever Russell Crowe spoke he sounded like his Man of Steel character Jor-El. Weird, I know, but true!
Noah is directed by Darren Aronofsky, the man behind Black Swan, and stars Russell Crowe as the title character. The film re-tells the famous story of Noah's Ark from the Bible; God wishes to wipe out the evil and exploitive human race via an everlasting flood, and it is up to Noah to build this enormous Ark to shelter his family and two of every animal from the oncoming flood.
Now I was curious to see this movie because Darren Aronofsky has made some very impressive movies in the past, plus I am not religious so if it did deviate from the source material in anyway, it wouldn't bother me at all. For example, when the film took the decision in which Noah receives all of the information via dream like visions as opposed to God (or the Creator as they call him in the film) speaking to him from atop a cloud, I was fine with it. In fact, that was one of the biggest positives for me in a movie in which I did enjoy, bar from a few things.
First and foremost, Russell Crowe does carry the movie well and there is no questioning the man's acting talent. I really felt as the plot thickened that Noah (played by Crowe, obviously) and his family were good people, and not just the people the film forces us to like. This was probably made easier because the evil humans in the movie were truly detestable, particularly the villain who Ray Winstone played superbly. I always think that of you care for the people on screen, the film has done something right!
Emma Watson also seriously impressed me with her performance within the film, which was probably my favourite out of all of them. Her performance worked because you cared for her character and the actress showed off her diverse emotional range and talent. The third act of the film sees Watson at her best, which was the shining light of that part of the film.
This was the part I didn't really enjoy. The film tried to take some interesting directions with some of the characters that, while it may have worked for other audience members, it didn't for me. This was probably because for the first two thirds of the film I was seriously invested within the majority of the plot and all of the characters.
Noah was also a good watch because Darren Aronofsky's talent shone through on multiple occasions. However, I was a little worried when I saw the first CGI creature which, in my opinion, wasn't up to scratch. The CGI is by no means terrible, but I really felt it could have been polished up a bit more for the theatrical release.
Besides, what is CGI to wide landscape shots that beautifully sell the location. Noah has these shots and they are beautiful and well crafted.
However I can't stress enough that the final third of the film just was not to my liking. The film dragged on for too long in my opinion and I checked my phone multiple times to see if we were finally nearing the film's conclusion! That is probably my biggest complaint with the film; the pacing and the length.
I have other complaints but in reality they are all little nit picks I have with some of the story elements that probably won't effect your viewing experience of Noah in any way. But there were things that did annoy me with the film, just so you know. But Noah is still an enjoyable film that is competently made:
Rating - B
1 sentence summary - Interesting, nice to look at and generally well made, despite its never ending run time!
Thanks for reading,
Matt
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