Noah (2014), PG-13, ★★1/2

Noah (Russell Crowe) hugging his wife (Jennifer Connelly) and the baby.

Do you recall the fable of God telling Noah that he will destroy the world? The Holy Bible puts that story in brief paragraphs making us comprehend that God did flood the lands and its wicked victims for 40 days and 40 nights. But, what did Noah do? He built an ark to protect the animals and his family?

Tackling a subject or topic from the Holy Bible is a difficult project to pursue because a filmmaker can be too ambitious or can take too many risks to present the final cut to the audience as one grand-scale movie. For example, Cecil B. DeMille made two versions of The Ten Commandments in 1923 (the silent version) and in 1956, which was the most recognizable version starring Charlton Heston. Even, there are many movies about Jesus and a movie which takes place during the last few years of Jesus which was Ben-Hur, also starring Charlton Heston. Sometimes, a filmmaker can get too carried away or controversy from different religious groups will pressure the filmmaker into making a suitable and honest version depicting the fable according to the Bible that all Christians have studied or read. This movie delivered some epic moments, but sometimes got too carried away with its technique and style.

The movie begins with retelling the beginning of the book of Genesis, where Adam and Eve created sin and had three children: Cain, Abel and Seth. Cain kills Abel and the Watchers, giant armed and stoned golems, help Cain and his descendants build civilization. Only the descendants of Seth are the sole members to spread out hope and mankind throughout the world to get rid of the wicked bystanders.

Noah (Russell Crowe) is out with his sons, Shem (Gavin Casalegno) and Ham (Nolan Gross), hunting  to provide the necessities for he and his family. After completing their task of killing the scaly creatures, the three family members return back home to Naameh, Noah's wife (Jennifer Connelly) and their infant son, Japheth. Afterwards, Noah is dreaming of the beginning of mankind and nature and haunting images of dead people in the ocean where he struggles to swim up to the surface. Noah wakes up and Naameh asks him whether he has heard from the Creator. Noah replies that God is going to destroy the world.

The family goes up to a mountain to camp there and Noah and Shem go visit Methuselah, Noah's grandfather (Anthony Hopkins). As Noah and Methuselah discuss Noah's dreams or visions, Methuselah gives him a seed and places it in on the ground. Noah announces that they will build an ark. As ten years pass by, an older Shem (Douglas Booth) chases an older Ila (Emma Watson), who they previously found in a burnt village, as they form a relationship. An older Ham (Logan Lerman) is jealous of his brother for not having someone in his life. As the ark is almost finished, animals make way to the ark. And, from there on, the journey is interfered as Tubal-Cain (Ray Winstone) is at the ark site. He is the same man who killed Noah's father. However, Noah is not alone.

Noah makes some decisions as his family look on.

I cannot completely value the experience I had watching this film, in other words, I cannot fully embrace the film. It seems that Darren Aronofsky, one of the most inventive storytellers of his generation, wants to take a Biblical fable and turn into a stylistic CGI event with some fluff that is entirely not accepting. Granted, the visuals are sensational especially on the big-screen but it takes away the experience I wanted to grasp.

I paid attention to the controversy surrounding this project. To explain, the controversy was that Christians and other strongly religious people cursed the making of this project that Aronofsky will not present this story faithful to the Bible. Christian families encourages children and groups to respect what is in the Bible. But, my opinion is that the controversy is ridiculous because any biblical epic cannot be adapted perfectly suitable that many faithful religious audience members will enjoy it. There will be flaws in any epic. For example, The Ten Commandments had a sweeping epic scope with Cecil B. DeMille narrating and each shot is grand-scale or with such pristine decorum. However, there were moments that get a bit preachy with a few actors just reciting their lines to the audience and a few holes in the journey.

Russell Crowe does give one of his strongest performances of his career. This epic genre fits him like a glove. He knows how to recite the epic and concise lines with gusto and presence. Jennifer Connelly is fine as the wife as she and Crowe reunite after about 10 years starring in A Beautiful Mind. Watson is terrific, Ray Winstone is compelling, and Lerman does what he can with the script. Even, Anthony Hopkins gives a brief strong performance that almost compelled me to praise his performance as one of his best performances. Hopkins' portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs was brief too and it won him the Oscar. Oh, well.

I do not have a problem with the performances or the presentation of the story. However, I want to recap that Aronofsky got carried away and it turned into a near copy of Gladiator mixed with The Lord of the Rings with a hint of The Neverending Story. Plus, the material drags on for a while. It could have been 20 minutes shorter because we all know that Noah and his family made it. I understand that it was not Aronofsky's intention to make a biblical movie. But, I wanted to see a little more of the religious aspects of the story.

Darren Aronofsky made some of my favorite and compelling movies of the last 15 years: Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, and Black Swan. This is unfortunately his first disappointing project from him. (I kind of liked The Fountain.) This movie has flashes of brilliance and masterful shots, but in the end, it is just eye candy for all the moviegoers. I would urge everyone either to rent the film on demand or if you go see it, prepare to be disappointed.

**1/2