The main reason I was looking forward to Noah was because of its director, Darren Aronofsky. Aronofsky has directed two movies which I consider to be among the best ever made, and those two movies are 'Black Swan' and 'Requiem For A Dream'. When you look at the rest of his excellent filmography with the likes of 'The Fountain' and 'Pi', it's easy to see why he's considered one of the best directors in the world today. After all, he's never made a bad movie. However, I definitely had my reservations with 'Noah', it's the first time Aronofsky has been given a big budget and with a biblical story, things could turn very bad and controversial very easily. Thankfully, Noah isn't a bad movie, although it is probably Aronofsky's weakest.
First things first; this is not a straight up bible adaptation. It never promised it would be, and it doesn't need to be. If you're one of the people who won't see this movie or will immediately disregard it due to it's inaccuracy (to an already fictional story) then you should pull that giant stick out of your a** and stop being so goddamn pretentious. This movie is somewhat well written, and the changes it makes to the story all feel merited and necessary to Aronofsky's vision. Some of the stuff is pretty strange, but it adds to the visceral experience and makes it all the more enjoyable . A lot of the dialogue is pretty bad, and the characters aren't particularly well written, as even though they all get some good emotional scenes, we never really learn who the characters are. We learn nothing outside of Noah's mission to help God, we are given a vision of him that shows he is devoted to God and is often tormented over it, but other than that we learn very little about the character's personality.
Although the characters are fairly weak, the actors do an excellent job with the material. Russell Crowe is excellent in the title role, he surprisingly brings a great feel of menace to the role. Ray Winstone is good, but at points it feels like his acting is too over the top. Jennifer Connelly doesn't really have much to do in the first half of the movie other than a few good scenes with Noah, but she really shines in the movie's second half. I was surprised to find that Emma Watson steals the show, as her character was the one I cared the most for and she had some great emotional moments that really showcased her excellent acting. I've never liked Logan Lerman, and he's tolerable in the movie but I really didn't like the character, and felt like it was a role that many characters could have also done and done it better as well.
But Noah's shining quality is it's directing and cinematography, which is absolutely phenomenal. There are a few shots in the movie that involve stopmotion-like time lapse sequences, and these sequences are mindblowingly good. The film uses lots of silhouettes which are beautiful, and there are some incredible juxtaposed shots as well. I was surprised at how good the VFX are, as after seeing them in the trailer I thought they looked quite cartoony but in the movie they look great. The set and costume designs are excellent as well, and I wasn't expecting this movie (being PG-13) to feature some of the more mature themes which it does. The first half definitely isn't as interesting as the second half, but when the movie picks up it really does pick up. The film does bring up a lot of interesting points, but I feel like there was probably a lot more moralistic and philosophical content that the studios made Aronofsky cut.
Noah isn't the best movie ever, but visually; it's absolutely incredible. The cinematography is amazing and everything in this film looks beautiful. It's worth seeing for the visuals alone, as it's a visceral and fascinating experience.
First things first; this is not a straight up bible adaptation. It never promised it would be, and it doesn't need to be. If you're one of the people who won't see this movie or will immediately disregard it due to it's inaccuracy (to an already fictional story) then you should pull that giant stick out of your a** and stop being so goddamn pretentious. This movie is somewhat well written, and the changes it makes to the story all feel merited and necessary to Aronofsky's vision. Some of the stuff is pretty strange, but it adds to the visceral experience and makes it all the more enjoyable . A lot of the dialogue is pretty bad, and the characters aren't particularly well written, as even though they all get some good emotional scenes, we never really learn who the characters are. We learn nothing outside of Noah's mission to help God, we are given a vision of him that shows he is devoted to God and is often tormented over it, but other than that we learn very little about the character's personality.
Although the characters are fairly weak, the actors do an excellent job with the material. Russell Crowe is excellent in the title role, he surprisingly brings a great feel of menace to the role. Ray Winstone is good, but at points it feels like his acting is too over the top. Jennifer Connelly doesn't really have much to do in the first half of the movie other than a few good scenes with Noah, but she really shines in the movie's second half. I was surprised to find that Emma Watson steals the show, as her character was the one I cared the most for and she had some great emotional moments that really showcased her excellent acting. I've never liked Logan Lerman, and he's tolerable in the movie but I really didn't like the character, and felt like it was a role that many characters could have also done and done it better as well.
But Noah's shining quality is it's directing and cinematography, which is absolutely phenomenal. There are a few shots in the movie that involve stopmotion-like time lapse sequences, and these sequences are mindblowingly good. The film uses lots of silhouettes which are beautiful, and there are some incredible juxtaposed shots as well. I was surprised at how good the VFX are, as after seeing them in the trailer I thought they looked quite cartoony but in the movie they look great. The set and costume designs are excellent as well, and I wasn't expecting this movie (being PG-13) to feature some of the more mature themes which it does. The first half definitely isn't as interesting as the second half, but when the movie picks up it really does pick up. The film does bring up a lot of interesting points, but I feel like there was probably a lot more moralistic and philosophical content that the studios made Aronofsky cut.
Noah isn't the best movie ever, but visually; it's absolutely incredible. The cinematography is amazing and everything in this film looks beautiful. It's worth seeing for the visuals alone, as it's a visceral and fascinating experience.