Noah

Movie Name: Noah
Year of Release: 2014

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Stars: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Douglas Booth, Mark Margolis

Genre: Drama, Action, Adventure

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 4

Synopsis:

Following the successful "Black Swan", director Darren Aronofsky is back, with his interpretation of the biblical episode, involving Noah and the creation of the Arc. The film follows the story of Noah, and how he is chosen by God to build an Arc to salvage all creatures, since there's a flood of epic proportions being unleashed on Earth, to eradicate all evil and sin.
Darren Aronofsky has always been an interesting film maker, working in independent films for most of his career. "Noah" is his first big budget feature, and tackles a subject matter that on a first glance, is quite different than his other films. The common thread throughout Aronofsky's films, has always been how his main characters struggle within themselves, with their own demons, and how they are their own worst enemies (and create their own downfall). That is something that touches the character of Noah, though the scope and ambition of this film drowns what could have been a film about faith and the feverish pursuit of a vision. The film is beautifully rendered and as usual benefits from the stunning cinematography from Matthew Libatique, however that doesn't salvage it from the lack of existence of real characters with human dimension. The acting is also quite uneven - on one hand Russell Crowe provides gravitas and dimension to his character, but Jennifer Connelly is shrill and inconsistent (her accent changes frequently) and Ray Winstone again creates a villain that is flat and uninteresting (under-written). Aside from the fact the screenplay seems fragmented and incoherent, the film ends up having editing issues with the final part of the plot feeling disjointed from the rest of the narrative. A sadly missed opportunity for the usually brilliant Darren Aronofsky.