Noah made it to number 1 over the weekend at the South African box office so I thought it was a good omen ... Man, was I wrong. Let's dig in.
Darren Aronofsky, the visionary behind the movies
Pi,
Requim for a Dream,
The Fountain,
The Wrestler and
Black Swan gives us one of the most bloated and incoherent adaptations of a Bible story to date. Yet it will be sold as a visionary re-visioning than adaptation 'cause hey "There are no talking rock-like figures in the bible".
Aronofsky turns Noah into a parable of our own time, tackling the issue of saving the environment, violence and religious fundamentalism. Those who destroy the environment shall be wiped out, vegetarians are good and us canivores (omnivores) bad and Noah becomes a prototype of a jihadist or religious fundermantalist who does unspeakable things all based on faith in what he presupposes the Big Man in the sky wants. Noah, played by Maximus aka Russel Crowe, is very resolute. Crowe is convincing as a man struggling with the weight of the world on his shoulders
Now reading that, this sounds interesting but yikes, great ideas do not necessarily make a good story. Aronofsky takes so many liberties with the Genesis story it might even upset your sabbath school or Sunday school teachers.
Yet it's not the liberties that infuriate that much, it is that he tries to fill in the blanks of what is inferred within the Bible but does not give his characters good motivation nor a good story of their own to inhabit outside of Noah's mission. Some of the imaginations dont make story sense or work dramatically (to enhance the tension or conflict).
The only person in this movie with a real story is Noah, all the other characters are just cardboard cut-outs, stereotypes (straight out of soapies) and cliches. Cliches that are borderline telenovela and soapies,just presented here with a massive budget ... it's just stops short of having uNgamla popping up and throwing in his own lines from Generubbish but Noah would be shocked 'cause only caucasions inhabit this world.
Talking of cliches ... how is an all-white family going to repopulate the world to have so many different ethnicities as it has today? Oh no, wait, it's a parable, you don't need to think about that too much. Plus the movie is actually based on a graphic novel Noe not necessarily the book of Genesis 1- 8. Yet when you really start thinking it through, the more the story and character motivations fall apart.
Darren Aronofsky does have some great images, especially with Noah's visions but don't expect to see some imaginative antediuivian world here. What we have is Noah in hoodies and ruggy two piece suits ... seriously. Lets not even start on the "watchers" and the world the guys inhabit. Aside from the barren landscape one does not see anything of the world that was before the great flood which dramtically changed the worlds geography ,thats if you believe in the Bible.Since Aronofsky is all about climate change ,the world is made to look like a wasteland...pity. Then there's the blockbuster effect with huge battles and razzle dazzle visual effects that actually take away from the story than make it rich.
Ja nee I was seriously disappointed in this movie, dude I was not even looking for Noah of Genesis but something with the creative spark of Requim of a Dream, the complexity of Black Swan and the daring of The Fountiain and heart of the Wrestler ,nje. A movie that could give us an imaginative look into the world that once was but instead all I got is talking rocks, people who chew snakes' heads off and fight sequences with talking rocks ... Michael Bay would be so proud of this.They say at times art says something about the society its created in and at times its a reflection of its creator,I think Noah speaks more to Aronofsky issues and ideas than to the story of Noah ; conservationism and vegetaranism are pushed at the sake of a good compelling story with compelling characters.
Rating ***junk **almost bearable ***now we cooking ****almost perfect *****classic ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++