"Noah" - All Creatures Wild and Wacky

The best way to enjoy "Noah" is simple:  know little to nothing about Noah's three Biblical chapters in Genesis.  As the filmmakers take multiple liberties with the plot, co-writer and director Darren Aronofsky tells a version of the story never shown before.  He gets points for ambition and originality, but does it all work?  Yes and no.

"Noah" is a fast-paced, action-disaster flick with more CGI battles than "Transformers."  It's also a head-scratching oddity that viewed under the right (or wrong) circumstances could be hilarious.

Russell Crowe stars as Noah, and once again saves mankind in his ultimate role - spiritual gladiator with an environmental soul.  Along with his wife (Jennifer Connelly) and  three sons, Noah lives a peaceful, faithful life in a world of sin.  Unlike the Biblical version, Noah never hears the voice of God, but instead has a couple dreams about death and floods.  He builds the ark, the animals are called (all CGI and rather unimpressive), and a hard rains starts to fall.  Along the way, a couple major conflicts arise.  First, Noah must find wives for his sons to take along and help repopulate the planet.  It's a contrived obstacle invented by the filmmakers, but it does provide Noah with the inner-struggle of whether the earth should be repopulated or not.  Well, duh, why'd you get on the ark then?

The second conflict involves the evil king Tubal-cain.  Played by the excellent and underrated Ray Winstone, he's a multi-faceted villain who first wants to destroy Noah, and then wants aboard the ark.  A direct descendant of Adam and Eve's son Cain, Tubal-cain laments the Creator's absence in the world.  Although this character is sure to anger Biblical scholars and literalists, Tubal-cain adds some excitement to the story, resulting in the movie's best thrills. 

One major problem is the lack of background on the world that is to be destroyed.  That, to me, would be a fascinating exploration of the evils within our heart.  How did we go from the Garden of Eden to such a decadent evil civilization that needs to be wiped out?  Aside from a brief prologue explanation, not much is shown.  All we really see are roving bands of thugs which look more post-apocalyptic than pre-.  They are a clichéd gang of grunts reminiscent of a "Mad Max" movie or even the descriptions from Cormac McCarthy's "The Road."  I really wanted a better sense of who are these people and why have they so angered their creator.

Along these lines comes the second major problem:  the lack of insight into Noah.  Again why is he so special as chosen by God to be the lone survivor?  He respects the earth and all living creatures, but lives apart from his fellow man.  Rather than being a righteous soul in a world of sinners, he exists completely outside their society - and this is a big difference.  Ultimately, when he decides to build the ark he never questions his faith, nor does anyone else.  Russell Crowe does his best to look pensive, but the filmmakers failed to provide enough context for him to be such an important character.

Ultimately, the movie lacks a meaningful relevance to our life.  Outside of the blatantly obvious "we are destroying the earth" imagery, a true sense of connectedness is missing.  When the flood is over, and life returns to Earth, what is the message for us today?  I believe it's a movie about faith.  I'm not sure that it really is, though, and perhaps that theme is just my own projection.  I'm curious to know what other people think.  So in that regard, "Noah" is worth seeing and discussing.

"Noah" the movie is one interpretation of this ancient story.  At over two hours long, it moves fast.  So forget what you know and enjoy the ride.