5/10

WOW!!! So that just happened. After sitting through 2 hours and 15 minutes of Director Darren Aronofsky’s latest film, i can clearly say that this is the most extreme interpretation of any story in any book ever. I hate to say that i can kind of understand why the Catholics are so upset with this film. That’s not to say that i agree with them, but i get why they are mad. This film is INSANE. It’s like mixing the bible with the film Apocalypse Now. For those of you who thought Baz Luhrman’s Romeo and Juliet was an extreme adaptation, you now have no room to talk. Noah is the tale of Noah’s Ark and the end of the world. Noah (Russell Crowe) gets his family and all of the animals into this wooden ark and Noah is told to do this to survive the massive flood. In this film, Noah is a murderer, a bible obsessive to the point of pure insanity, and threatens to kill his son’s 2 newborn daughters. He even gets to the point of running through the Ark with a knife about to kill those babies. On top of all of this is the hypocritical point of view that Noah is doing all of this from the word of God, but yet lets thousands of people die in the storm because they supposedly ruined the world. Getting into a religion debate is the LAST thing i want to do in this world, but doesn’t it say something in the bible about forgiving? Apparently not because Noah and God are quite vengeful in this film to the point of water knocking off people hanging on cliffs. There are also rock people in this film that protect Noah’s family by blocking the people getting to the ark. The CGI on the rock people is absolutely terrible. It makes the movie seem comical at times when it’s not supposed to be. This is weird because the CGI for the animals in the ark actually isn’t too bad. They mostly use wide shots for these animals, and that is the right way to go about it. Already halfway through this review, i can tell you that there are just too many crazy things in this film. I might have to do an hour long video review someday Some things i did enjoy about the film was the fact that they did dare to do something different and entertaining for once. I just think they failed at the aspect of making it anything but comical. I also thought the cinematography was beautiful. Especially with the scenary and some amazing editing done during the symbolism shots. Noah occasionally has these shots when he is sleeping and hearing the word of God. The acting isn’t terrible either. I think Emma Watson and Jennifer Connolly are good without having to be the main focus of the film. Crowe is about the craziest choice you could have possibly have had from a guy who isn’t named Nicolas Cage. The film does start off kind of slow, but it’s in the 2nd hour that it really picks up. Funny enough, the ark takes off with about an hour left of the film, so you kind of wonder what they could do with that time. That is when all of the craziness erupts with six people stuck on a boat all turning on each other. The pacing of their actions made me feel like i was watching an HBO show because we are predicting what these characters will do before they even know it.The ending is weak because they go back on all of the insanity they have created for a cliche ending. Overall, this is the craziest thing i have ever seen for an adaptation. I think a majority of the good reviews is because it’s a story that people definitely weren’t expecting.To me, it’s very hard to take seriously because of the mind blowing events on screen. I would recommend this film only because there will not be anything like this for a LONG time. Wait till DVD though. If i have one big regret about this film, it’s that i didn’t have the option of having a rewind button to enjoy the laughter of the madness unfolding around me. Overall verdict – Better than Son of God, but only because it wasn’t boring.