Noah

Over the past several decades we have seen many movies based on stories from the Bible.  Hence the term: Biblical Epic.  Movies like King of Kings, King David, Samson and Delilah, The Ten Commandments, and Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.  In December of 2014, Exodus: Gods and Kings will be released to theaters, starring Christian Bale.  Earlier this year, one of the most famous stories of The Old Testament was released to theaters: Noah.  Directed by Darren Aronofsky, Noah is a thrilling and action-packed story with emotional impact.  This is not the Sunday School version of Noah's Ark.

The film opens on a young Noah, participating in a ritual that has his father passing to him the snakeskin from the serpent of the Garden of Eden, when they are interrupted by a young Tubal-cain wanting to turn the hill their sitting on into a mine.  Tubal-cain kills Noah's father and Noah runs off.  Years later, we see Noah(Russell Crowe)as an adult when he catches his son Ham taking a flower from the ground and Noah tells him to take only what they need and God will provide the rest.  Suddenly a single raindrop falls and a flower instantly grows in its place.  Noah see this and takes his family away.  After saving a scaly creature from a group of poachers, Noah returns home.  During the night, he has a horrible nightmare where he is submerged in water and there are human bodies all around.  When he wakes up, he takes his other son, Shem, with him to see Noah's grandfather, Methuselah(Anthony Hopkins).  Noah realizes that the vision he received was a warning from God, that the world would be destroyed by a massive flood because of mankind's wickedness, and Noah must build a vessel to save God's creatures.  Two of every species, to be exact.

Okay, so everybody knows the story of Noah's Ark and how it ends.  It is one of the most famous Biblical stories ever told.  Let's face it:  This is the Old Testament, so God was a bit of a dick.  Every time someone pissed Him off, he would kill them, in various and unpleasant ways.  Noah's flood?  He went kind of overboard with that one.  But it still makes for good reading.  Anyway, how is the film?  Excellent.  Visually, this movie is spectacular in so many ways.  One: Many of the exterior shots were filmed in Iceland.  If you ever want to make a dark, bleak and beautiful film, do it in Iceland.  The terrain there is astounding.  It's vast, it's bleak and it's some of the most unique and beautiful terrain in the world.  The visual effects are incredible as they are done by legendary Industrial Light and Magic.  They have created a world that is both stunning and terrifying at the same time.  Performance-wise?  Solid marks all across the board, with Russell Crowe taking the lead as Noah.  He really sells it as not just a man who wants to save what he can of Creation, but he has to hold on to his family as well and he's willing to kill people to uphold his duty to God.  Ray Winstone is the other stand-out as the king Tubal-cain.  This is a character who is willing to do whatever he can to get whatever he wants.  There's an interesting dynamic here between Noah and Tubal-cain.  Both are descendants of the children of Adam and Eve.  Noah: The descendant of Seth, the third child after Abel was murdered by Cain.  Tubal-Cain:The last descendent of Cain.  The reason I say there's an interesting dynamic, is that Tubal-cain wants to save his people, which seems reasonable, while Noah is more than willing to let millions of people, innocent or otherwise, die to save Creation.  So the question here is: Who actually is the real bad guy here?  Both have reasonable intentions, but their methods are very, VERY different.  Yeah, Tubal-cain isn't exactly a good guy, but he doesn't strike me as completely evil, despite his lineage.

How's the action?  It's pretty good.  Russell Crowe's character definitely means business, but the two big selling points of the film are the battle for the ark, which involves fallen angels encased in stone known as the Watchers, and Tubal-Cain's army.  That's pretty damned spectacular.  The other selling point is the Flood.  This is a story about Noah's Ark, so leaving out The Flood would've been.....unwise.  The folks at ILM have done an exceptional job here.  I will warn you, there is some disturbing stuff in here, especially when the flood hits.  I'm honestly surprised this movie managed to get away with a PG-13 rating given how graphic the violence is.  I mean, it gets brutal at times.  Remember when I said this isn't your Sunday School version of the story?  I meant it.  But it is absolutely thrilling to see all the animals arrive and board the ark, and seeing the Watchers take on Tubal-cain's horde.  It does kind of look like something out of The Hobbit, but these Watchers were in the Bible.  I would have to say, that this is a pretty faithful adaptation of the story.  While I'm pretty sure that the Bible left out the epic battles, I would have to say that the movie is pretty accurate.  With the incredible performances by Russell Crowe and company, this is a film that is both exciting and emotional.  It stays with you long after the credits roll.  The underlying themes of the original story which include obedience to God, mercy, justice, faith and redemption, really give this movie a very solid and satisfying emotional punch.

Are there any negatives?  Not really.  This film is about as solid as they come.  There's obvious controversies surrounding the fact that there seem to be too many white people in the movie given the story's timeline.  That's nitpicking at best.  Darren Aranofsky has crafted an incredible epic that I think will have a lasting impact on audiences.  If you see just ONE Biblical Epic movie this year, make it Noah.  I give this one a 9.5/10.  HIGHLY recommended.