Noah

MY RATING: GOOD ONE-TIME CATCH

Hollywood once again attempts to adapt the bible for the silver screen with the story of Noah. Noah is unlike the colourful and hopeful story told by children's books but a more realistic yet artistic take on the Book of Genesis. Director Darren Aronofsky brought in a sense of realism to the film, showing us first hand how wicked and cruel the world used to be that "The Creator" had to destroy everything. 

The film opens up with a disclaimer saying: 

“The film is inspired by the story of Noah. While artistic license has been taken, we believe that this film is true to the essence, values and integrity of a story that is a cornerstone of faith for millions of people worldwide. The biblical story of Noah can be found in the Book of Genesis.”

This statement sent us a clear message that the story is going to be considerably different from the biblical version and indeed it was, with the addition of new details and characters as well as the unique interpretation of the "Fallen Angels". Despite that, I do feel that the film (in some way) still managed to bring across the essence of new life, the values of faith and goodness that it promised and maintain the general idea of the story. 

What I like about Noah is that I managed to step into the shoes of many of the characters and comprehend their feelings and emotions. We also get to see the dark side of human nature which is truly disturbing but not entirely surprising for we are indeed self-centred people in a dog-eat-dog world. We learn that Noah is actually not the perfect figure we always perceived him to be but a conflicted person who did not understand the true intentions of "The Creator", just like anyone else would be. Another thing I have to give credit to Aronofsky is his rather convincing attempt in marrying the concept of Creationism and Darwinism in a visual spectacle explaining how the world began.  

I really like the cast of Noah as they are each incredibly talented in their individual roles. Russell Crowe, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins - They all delivered an amazing performance that made you connect well to their characters 

Hollywood adaptations of biblical stories, however, will continuously be bombarded with controversy and criticism due to its divergence and inaccuracies. It is an unavoidable situation as film-makers have to make changes to the original in order to obtain as much revenue for it is in their agenda, especially for a film with such a huge budget. 

Noah, in my opinion, is an interesting and thrilling film. It was a good, scary take on the biblical story and it is very emotional as well. I am giving it a "Good One-Time Catch" for despite the thrill, it is not a film I have the strong urge to watch again.