Review of Noah (2014) by Themillz1988 — 05 May 2014

I'm a fairly big fan of Aronofsky, I have enjoyed all of his films and until 'Noah' I considered his portfolio of work to be incredibly consistent in terms of quality.

I went into the cinema with the expectation of perhaps, a great but flawed film.

But I wasn't prepared for the mess that is 'Noah'

The entire film just felt second rate considering the talent involved. By far Aronofsky's weakest film but it wasn't just the director who seemed lost here. Clint Mansell's music is normally spectacular to hear but it felt like he was going through the motions as well, the score was bombastic to the point of being irritating, and parts felt lifted straight out of his other scores.

The actors clearly struggled with the hammy, preachy dialogue. Jennifer Connelly and Emma Watson in particular were impressive in the few short scenes they actually had something worthwhile to do or say but it never made me care even remotely about what was happening on screen. Russell Crowe and Ray Winston on the other hand felt like they were on auto pilot, both great actors but the truth is we have seen them play these sort of roles before, and better. Still, it's nothing new to see good actors dragged down in bad films so I can't really blame some of the cast.

The rest of the characters barely had a word to speak, and then later in the film the audience is expected to care about them when the overblown thematic's come to their fruition, simply poor storytelling.

And then we have Anthony Hopkins playing the wise old man character, with a particular sweet tooth for berries. Sigh. I wont even bother with the ridiculous rock giants...

There were a few good scenes, in particular later in the film when Noah tells the creation story with elements of evolution mixed in; sure to piss a lot of people off but at least it felt raw and passionate.

But a couple of good scenes and some artsy visuals doesn't raise a film from mediocrity, there are some serious double standards going on when a film like Noah gets good reviews from critics while other generic blockbusters get slated.