Noah

As long as Darren Aronofsky and Clint Mansell keep going back to the style of The Fountain, everything is in the best order, and I just marvel at how this well-known theme can be told purely through characters in epic settings. And it doesn't even matter that Darren turned the script into something like Transformers: Origins. But when Noah's escalating paranoia starts to explicitly infuriate, I start shaking my head at times, and at that point the dramatically mature Emma Watson has to salvage more than she should. Actually, even a day after viewing, I couldn't decipher the puzzle with incredible visuals and annoyance from constant dialogues about the Creator or what is right. But because I'm not sure about any potential second viewing, I won't climb any higher even with the best will in the world. (27/03/2014)

The crossover to feature film was a success. Aronofsky relishes in mirroring today’s humanity with the descendants of Cain. Dream sequences and trippy tales from the first chapters of the Bible, maintains the same fascinating effectivity that glues the viewer’s your dry eyes to the screen. Russell is excellent, his acting hasn’t been that good for a long time and he handled the work that his Noah has to perform with flying colors. The purpose of building the Ark is a little bit different here, almost turning the picture into a thriller toward the end and giving it a depressing aura only dispersed by Watson at the end. Lots of people fault Darren for selling out to Hollywood, but I can’t sincerely imagine that anyone else would have filmed a better Noah. Or that it wouldn’t have been so distinctive. I have nothing to fault (maybe Noah’s shaved nut, that was a bit extreme). Too little controversy? Not shocking enough? Too biblical? For God’s sake... You’re saying I don’t I have to do it?! (30/03/2014)

If you make a film that is full of religious themes, you have to expect negative reviews, and Noah is a prime example of that. I was used to getting powerful and evocative dramas that could tear me apart, were made on lower budgets, from Darren Aronofsky, so I was very excited to see Noah, which in many ways is a departure from the director's previous films. I'm a non-believer and only superficially familiar with biblical stories, so Aronofsky could have shown me what he wanted and I would have bought it. Personally, I was quite surprised by the presence of stone giants, which had a purposeful use in the story. The narrative was a bit chaotic at times as it jumped from topic to topic, but it wasn't that distracting. The cast was likeable, the visual effects were of a high standard, which is expected of a film like this, and Clint Mansell's music seemed to me to complement rather than stand out (like in Requiem for a Dream). All in all, a film that could have been better, I admit, but I personally enjoyed it, so as a viewer I'm happy with the overall result. (30/03/2014)

I liked the comic book (by the same authors as the script) better mainly because the world in which the story takes place is much more interesting - it's actually a classic post-apocalyptic landscape with remnants of various cities, factories, machine wrecks and so on. The film was left with only hints, not even Tower of Babel made it into the film, and I wonder what led Aronofsky and Handel to deviate so far from their own original work in the adaptation. Otherwise, though, Noah isn't downright bad, although for me Darren Aronofsky remains the director of a single outstanding film (yes, The Fountain). Russell Crowe's fanatical position was very convenient. (06/07/2016)

An ambitious jumble that is nice to look at, but also reflects why Aronofsky’s films get so many mixed responses; it’s packed with epic and fateful stuff, but lacks a strong author’s voice and a coherent motif. It’s held (literally) above water mostly by the actors and the rich narrative, but it’s so overstuffed that nothing else is memorable. (29/01/2019)