Rating of
2.5/4
Review: Noah
MikePA - wrote on 03/30/14
Director Darren Aronofsky's undeniably controversial and polarizing yet richly thematic and grandiose telling of Noah's Ark has its wondrous moments presented in a fairly good and thoroughly watchable first two acts, but is soon burnt to dust in its third act once things get tedious and sluggish and ultimately fail to provide an ounce of emotional resonance. That matter didn't make me dislike the overall film, but it left me a little bit cold and underwhelmed since everything beforehand was pretty darn good. Obviously, Aronofsky added some extra story elements to the material, which thankfully wasn't a bad thing. It's effectively incorporated into what we already know of the story, giving clarity to the film's presentation of its themes. Visually, the film mostly succeeds - the ark and the flood all look fantastic, these big stone creatures known as the "watchers" look astoundingly cool and grounded, and the animals look mostly good but in some shots the CGI is questionable. It's shot beautifully by Aronofsky's usual cinematographer, Matthew Libatique, and Clint Mansell's score is at times distracting, but loud and epic enough to help the large-scale sequences raise a pulse. Though it's a very well-acted movie, these characters just don't bring any emotional tension to the screen. I was never moved by the film, and it left me, especially in the final reel, kind of bored and seriously hoping for the powerful punch it wanted to deliver. Aronofsky gives the character of Noah an interesting personal story that's always intriguing to watch, but as I said, it's never an emotionally moving film, and there's really not much to think about once it's over. Noah doesn't come anywhere close to Aronofsky's most intelligent and provocative work, but the film is ambitious and perfectly decent enough to make for a good home viewing.
2.5/4
