Why I Saw It: I'm sorry, but "Director of Requiem for a Dream takes on Genesis" is too juicy to pass up.
Cast: Russell Crowe is cast here to do what he does best: make his character tough (See: Oscar winning Best Picture, Gladiator). He also brings what he does second best: make his character a little crazy (See: Oscar winning Best Picture: A Beautiful Mind). So, that's our Noah: crazy badass on a mission from God. Jennifer Connolly is his wife. I with I could say there's more to her character than that. She cries some. That's about it. Emma Watson is the new Eve, basically. Whoops, I meant to start that with spoiler alert. Oh well, it clear early on that that's where the story is going. Logan Lerman brings his Perks of Being a Wallflower cred to play Noah's middle child, who is basically new Cain. Douglas Booth is Noah's oldest son (aka new Abel). There's a third son as well, although I'm pretty sure he was just there because the bible said Noah had three sons. Ray Winstone and Anthony Hopkins show up as well. Neither are all that interesting.
Plot: The movie starts by establishing that Noah is the last of the line of Adam and Eve's third son, Seth. Noah is sort of a vegan type (doesn't like picking flowers or killing animals for food). He's willing to kill people in defense though. Don't worry. This is Russell Crowe we're talking about. Noah has a couple visions about a flood and gets a band of rock monsters (no kidding) to help him. After a while, all the other humans of the world get word of this and want a ticket to ride. Then the flood happens and there's a whole other hour of tension. Eventually, the world's washed clean of all the wicked people but mostly, wrong place-wrong time people. Oh, and Noah goes stir crazy. None of this is subtle.
Elephant in the Room: How biblical is this? There's still an arch and all the animals as well as a flood. A lot of the characters have familiar names. It mentions the Creator a lot. That's about all the similarities to the bible that you need to know. Clearly, Aronofsky is working through some questions he has about religion and there's a sense that he wants the bible and real life to come to terms somehow and this is his best attempt at it. I'd even venture to say it does a better job pleasing both sides than isolating both, so that's a plus for him.
To Sum Things Up:
This is Aronofski's pet project. Any director at a certain level needs to get this out of his/her system. Occasionally, it gives us Schindler's List or Inception. Other times, we get Days of Heaven or Cutthroat Island. This is somewhere in between. It's enjoyable if not a little misguided. It makes a few good points and gives a number of actors I like something to do. It's also not too memorable. The controversy over the movie and it's changes to the biblical story is far more interesting than anything that makes it into the movie...except maybe the rock monsters. Those are pretty cool no matter what side you're on.
Verdict (?): Weakly Recommend
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