Noah - Noodles Review

7 out of 10 Noodles

    Before anything is said about this movie, it should be taken into account that it's adapted from the biblical story of Noah's Ark. I say adapted, because it's not exactly how it plays out it in the Bible, or in any other religious text I know of that mentions him. This movie is an adaptation, so it takes creative liberties to make it a drama/tension-filled epic. While I have nothing against the Bible or the way things take place in it, I think that trying to watch this movie as a purist (judging it on its differences from the Biblical tale) would definitely diverge one's enjoyment of it. So, in my opinion, you should only watch this movie if you're going in just as a viewer who wants to see an epic adventure. That being said, let's talk about one of my most anticipated movies of 2013: Noah. As you might have guessed, it's about the biblical figure, Noah, and the events that occurred in his life that led him to build his famous Ark, so as to survive the great flood. Now, it's kind of one of those movies where you have a vague idea of what's gonna go down. Like in Titanic, we know that there's going to be a prestigious ship, and that it's eventually going to meet its demise via impact with an iceberg; yet we don't really know how the director will interpret such events or what the characters will be like. While this is certainly not on the same boat as the 1997 masterpiece, Noah has sort of the same notion wherein we know that he's gonna build an ark, we know there's gonna be rain and an epic flood that wipes out mankind; but the interpretation of such events and creative directions taken are completely new. Darren Aronofsky is a great character director, as well as great at creating tension; these were evident in his previous films, Black Swan, The Fountain, and the classic Requiem for a Dream. Those were, however, incredibly thought-provoking movies made on relatively low budgets, whereas Noah is a big-budget adventure. Luckily, this film still takes effect in creating great three-dimensional characters.

    Noah is played by Russell Crowe which, along with Aronofsky's direction, is mainly what piqued my interest to see this movie. And I must say that he owns this role; he perfectly captured that sense of intense devotion, almost to the point where you don't even know if you wanna root for him at some points, and others where you wanna keep cheering him on. It's great to see him interpret Noah as such a dynamic character, and the level of intensity he portrayed in almost every shot was greatly convincing. Jennifer Connelly plays his wife, and it's funny that the last time she played the wife of Russell Crowe, he was still a somewhat troubled but devoted character whose actions take an emotional toll on her. I thought she was good in this movie as well, especially in a scene where she argues with Noah. The rest of the family is also played well, Emma Watson in particular and Anthony Hopkins who we know annihilates every role. There's also a villain, played by Ray Winstone; I thought he was incredibly menacing and awesome in the role, but I didn't really always think his character fit into the film.

   With all the praise I'm giving to the acting, there has to be some takeaways. The writing of the film is good but not great; there are some great moments and quotes, but not all the story elements always feel necessary or fitting. And I'll be honest, about 10-15 minutes into this movie I was afraid I was gonna be gravely disappointed. In the beginning the movie really doesn't look like it knows where it's going, and it can even come off as boring. But once Noah gets started on that Ark, then the film picks up, it gains focus, and redeems itself. From then on, it consistently played out as a suspenseful and epic movie; but I can't deny that it really started off quite rocky. And that brings me to the big rock dudes known as the "Watchers." I didn't really think they needed to be there, other then to give us more valid reasons as to why Noah was able to build the Ark and fend off the bad guys in time. But they were pretty cool. The special effects were awesome; these were some of the best water destruction effects I've ever seen in a movie. When that flood kicks in, it was some of the coolest shit I'd seen in awhile, and at the end of the day, that's the thing that stuck out in my head: how awesome the actual flood was.
    This movie does also sort of serve as a social commentary on what mankind does to the Earth, and in that aspect it gets its point across; which is a great hinging point in Noah's character. It's not an overtly polarizing religious film like Passion of the Christ or Ten Commandments; I think Noah is one of those movies that can be watched as just an epic story, without really thinking about the its biblical roots. Though it does get off on a rocky start and has some pacing issues throughout; at the end of the day, it's got some great acting and some awesome epic moments to earn it a solid 7 out of 10 Noodles. It's not your typical Aronofsky film, but it does still have his trademark character complexity at its simplest form. I think if you were to plan on starting to watch Aronofsky's movies, this would definitely be the movie to start you off, because it's simple yet it introduces you to his style, and prepares you for the mind-numbing of his other films.