Noah: A Russell Crowe Epic

Noah

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Writers: Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel

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

Runtime: 138 minutes

Certification: 12A

Rating: 4/5

The sweeping, captioned opening of Darren Aronofsky’s Noah is reminiscent of its cinematic heritage, the Biblical epics of years past, all elegantly flowing cursive script and delicately composed shots, until it promptly swoops down to the dark brutality of humanity. It’s a fantastic opening that sets the tone wonderfully, leaving a sense of ominous foreboding of everything that follows, while also making the statement that this is a Biblical epic, yes, but it’s Aronofsky’s Biblical epic. It’s his vision.

And what a vision it is – from Noah’s (suitably terrifying) vision of the Earth underwater to the Watchers, the fallen angels who lost their wings for simply trying to help, to the breath-taking expanses that make up this world, it’s never anything less than eye-catching. The influences of Paradise Lost can be felt, here and there, (no bad thing, of course), and the changes in scenery are more dramatic than most globe-trotting films – barren wastelands, lush green forests, misty mountains, a globe-spanning flood (obviously) and desert islands, they’re all here and all fully realised. Every single element of the art design, the environments, all of it, lives up to that ‘epic’ tag.

The imagery is striking, the assault on the Ark at the mid-point of the film is break-taking (and I mean that literally – I only realised I’d been holding my breath for almost the entire sequence when I let it all out explosively at the end, and the person sitting next to me gave me a healthy dose of a disapproving glare), and the ecological message (which is roughly as subtle as, say, sending a massive flood to show how pissed off you are with everyone) is a strong one, blended in with a healthy dose of philosophy (this is an inherently religious film – it can’t be anything else, really – but it still manages to insert some big questions about faith, particularly in the latter half).

It’s fortunate, really, that all this epic-ness is more than matched by the acting. If anything, I might go so far as to say the acting is the best thing about Noah. Crowe is nothing less than perfect as the eponymous Biblical action hero, deftly handling the enormous variety of emotions and roles Noah goes through (from said action hero, to tyrant, to a broken man, and multiple more besides), while Jennifer Connelly more than matches him, bringing the tears with her impassioned plea for him to spare their future grand-children. Anthony Hopkins continues to enjoy himself, taking a role that allows him relatively little screen-time but also all of the (admittedly few) laughs of the film, while Emma Watson and Logan Lerman continue their streak of quality films they’ve both worked on (the last being Perks of Being a Wallflower), putting in solid performances. The rest of the supporting cast is equally strong – Ray Winstone is appropriately hammy as the leader of the rest of the human race – but in the end it really is Crowe’s show. And he absolutely owns it.

Of course, even the best of acting can out-stay its welcome, and _Noah _does just that, rocking in at 138 minutes. From the earliest scenes there’s an inescapable sense of bloat, as the film follows a slightly jerky rhythm, accelerating rapidly towards key moments, slowing down to a sluggish crawl, suddenly picking up again, and then repeating. The ending is powerful, nailing all the themes of the film, but it comes somewhat too late. If you’re prepared to forgive the bloat, and enjoy the story (and at moments, it holds you so tightly in its grip you barely even notice the drop in pace), it’s an incredibly compelling one. It’s even better than the original.