Review 311: Noah
One day, while foraging in the country, a descendant of Seth, Noah (Dakota Goyo), sees his father slain by a descendant of Cain. In the process, Noah's birthright is stolen from him.
Decades later, as a father of three, Noah (Russell Crowe) experiences a vision foretelling the great flood that will wash over the Earth, destroying every living thing that stands on the soil. That vision leads Noah to seek out his grandfather, Methuselah, in order to understand his mission. When a second vision reveals that Noah is to construct a massive ark designed to shelter every living animal during the great flood, Noah, his wife Naameh (Jennifer Connelly), their three sons Shem (Douglas Booth), Ham (Logan Lerman), and Japheth (Leo McHugh Carroll), and their adoptive sister Ila (Emma Watson) immediately begin construction on the vessel with the help of the Watchers, a race of angels created as beings of light, but encrusted in stone and mud and forsaken by God for their attempts to help man. Meanwhile, word of Noah's work soon reaches Tubal Cain (Ray Winstone), who gathers an army on a mission to overtake the ark, and survive the coming storm by any cost.
The plot follows the basic story of Noah fairly well, albeit with some creative liberties, of course we all know the famous story, who doesn't, but this film isn't about whats going to happen, it's bout how they tell the story: Is it dramatic?
Is it going to be exciting? Is it going to be fun? Are we going to be invested in the characters? Are the special effects going to be mind blowing? And a lot of these things do happen.
Noah delivers on telling it's story in an impressive way with strong performances that help the film even if the story does get a bit hockey and borderline offensive to some religious groups at times.
The story can also feel a bit limited, once they get into the main story, the journey of it feels quite concise, maybe too concise leaving not much room for the film to breath, though I can see why since the story of Noah is a very short section of the bible and so the producers don't offend any religious groups.
Noah also includes many biblical themes such as sin, judgement, righteousness and Redemption.
Sin: The people of the Earth act in corrupt and cruel ways which is what makes God decide he's going to start the flood.
Judgement: The film of Noah starts with this concept of strong justice, that the wickedness of man will soon be met with justice, and it ends when the rainbow comes and it says, even though the heart of man is filled with wickedness, I will never again destroy the world...So it ends with this idea of mercy. God somehow goes from this idea of judging the wickedness to mercy and grace.
Righteousness: Noah believes that by ending humanity, he is doing the right thing, in building this ark, he's listening to God which leads to him having a lot of inner demons: He has to let this happen.
Redemption: Noah goes from a dark character who believes mankind has no way of being redeemed and will have to be destroyed. When he sees Ila's newborn son, it rejuvenates his hopes of mankind improving.
Darren Aronofsky's direction is unobtrusive, the visuals are sweeping and beautifully crafted, the cinematography is terrific, the score by Clint Mansell is monumental, the production design is brilliant, the costumes are fantastic, the locations and scenery are kind of breathtaking for a while but after showing whats basically black wasteland it becomes a bit tiresome, however some shots of the flood are pretty spectacular. The make up is rich and the sound effects are great.
The acting is pretty good, Russell Crowe is at possibly his best in recent years, he does a great job portraying the god like figure Noah is, his inner turmoil and his love for his family.
Jennifer Connelly is graceful and lovely as Naamah, Noah's wife, she is very devoted to Noah and a very dear wife and a lynchpin and anchors his humanity.
Logan Lerman and Emma Watson are excellent as Noah's son Ham and daughter-in-law Ila respectively. Noah has cared fot Ila since he found her as lost child and she has grown into a very compassionate, sympathetic girl, her compassion for what Noah has to do, Ham's loneliness and the wickedness of men is what makes her performance stand out.
Ham, on the other hand, is like the underdog of the family, unlike Ila, Shem and Japeth who have each other, he has no one and longs for a wife of his own, but due to Noah's sense of duty, he can't, so he has a lot of inner turmoil and Lerman does that really well. Plus he puts a great english accent.
I know we have seen Ray Winstone play a villain loads of times but it works perfectly for this. He is a basic representation of the wickedness of man. He's ruthless, cruel and will do nothing to ensure the survival of man and kill Noah.
Other actors in the film that are worth mentioning are Frank Langella as Og a Watcher who helps Noah, Anthony Hopkins as Methuselah, Noah's grandfather and Douglas Booth as Shem, Noah's son.
Noah is an excellent take on the story of Noah, 4/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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