9 /10

Warning: Spoilers

First of all let me make clear I don't care about any of the controversy. I don't care if you want to sit in front of me and trash talk the historical accuracy, the biblical aspects, or how much you hate Jesus and therefore this movie inevitably sucks. As one professional reviewer pointed out, controversy aside this is a good time at the movies! From the first trailer I was excited and my expectations only grew. I knew the potential for it being some bizarre anti-Christian piece was high but I was willing to try it and excited to do so. Simply put...wow...my expectations were met and exceeded and this is now the best film I have seen thus far in 2014. I am not fan of blatant CGI and I thought Noah used it near-brilliantly. The entire animal kingdom was CGI but it was so blatantly awful that you scoffed at it. Noah's heart and soul comes from its unique and liberal perspective of the story. I have great respect for them for looking at the tradition Christian story and saying, there are issues there but here is how this could have happened. They incorporated brilliant religious symbolism and characters, gave Noah a diverse character with incredible depth, an edge of your seat story of politics and the world as they know it. No one knows what the world was like then...no one. We have snippets and conjecture and this is by far the most brilliant rendition of that time. They liberally create animals that may have been or the giants that the bible speaks of and the barren, nearly steam punk world that exists around them. I was floored.



I have always enjoyed Russell Crowe though I felt like he has hit some major speed bumps in his career. This role was perfect for him and he absolutely nailed it. He is dark brooding, full of faith and love for his family. He is driven and disgusted with the world and the scenes of his fighting with his faith are just gut wrenching and brilliant. Crowe is superb. Jennifer Connelly was good in her role as Noah's wife. Their chemistry is terrific but I felt like perhaps her character is very much in the background and doesn't get a lot of chance to shine. She has some good scenes but her performance lacks some of the power of the others in the film. Anthony Hopkins was terrific in a much more subtle way as Methuselah. Hopkins captures an undeniable strength and wisdom to his character. His scenes are immediately captivating and he doesn't really have that many but they are so important and so well performed. (Also I also want to address the many apparently slow IMDb forum trolls who were wondering about Hopkin's character performing "magic.") He was performing miracles via the creator as his faith was as strong as anyones. Emma Watson, Logan Lerman and Douglas Booth were all very good as Noah's children. They each have a scene or more that was truly terrific and their chemistry together was really good as it was with Crowe as well. Ray Winstone was very good in his role...however...he was also the one major flaw in the film. He was used as the "big" villain and I think his character was unnecessary and the story of him getting inside the ark was unnecessary, clumsy and pointless. It was literally the one thing that made me feel like this was a 9 and not a 10 for me. I liked Winstone, he did a perfectly solid job in the role but the character was unnecessary.



I am not a Darren Aronofsky fan. I thought Black Swan was terrible, The Fountain was just way out there and The Wrestler was average. Well he has won me over with this because what he has created here is cinema masterpiece. The cinematography, the use of CGI, the world he creates. This is the key. You feel completely immersed in this world that we know nothing about. This isn't even truly a disaster film. This is a film about faith, love, family, God and yes there is some blatant messages about the direction of the world we live in now. This is the type of film, for me, that I can and will watch over and over again and get something different from it, notice something more or different or take something away from it. I cannot figure out why Christians would be angry and boycott this. This is easily the best example of Old Testament world ever created. It does take some liberties because it has to but there isn't anything here to squash the Christian faith or the traditional story. I absolutely LOVED the fallen angel giants (Nephilim for those of you wanting to look more into it.) Was the film completely scriptural? NO. But they also didn't ignore it and embraced the concepts. Visually stunning, brilliantly acted, and just an incredible experience. It won't get the accolades it deserves as far as I'm concerned. 9.5/10