Starting with the ominous string hits that accompany its opening title cards, it’s clear Noah isn’t messing around. Darren Aronofsky’s film aims to strip all hokiness from the story of a guy who loads a bunch of animals onto a giant ark so they can survive a flood. Make no mistake, this is a tale of violence from both humans and their creator. It is about the struggle to do the right thing, and the difficulty of knowing exactly what that is.
Director Aronofsky and his co-writer Ari Handel have not perfectly re-envisioned the story—it’s probably the least-focused effort of Aronofsky’s career. But they have created a satisfying, at times stirring consideration of the Hebrew Scriptures’ themes of free will, obedience and repentance. They have introduced new characters and story elements, largely pulled from different parts of Genesis and other scriptures with a healthy spirit of reinterpretation. With the exception of some sequences that appear to be simply action for action’s sake, the additions serve the drama of spiritual grappling.
Some of the new elements are practical. A visit to Noah’s magic, hermit grandfather, Methusela (Anthony Hopkins), gives Noah’s quest more of an arc (no pun intended). The Watchers, fallen angels who now live as giant rock men, team up with Noah to make the building of the ark more feasible. Magic smoke puts the animals to sleep, making the interior less chaotic once the ark is ready.
While the (quite short) telling of the story in the book of Genesis contains a very specific set of instructions from on high, the movie’s Noah has no such luxury. His information comes in the form of disturbing dreams and a hallucinogenic tea trip. He understands the need for the ark and the animals, and the purpose of the flood, but is a little less clear where humanity fits in the cleansed, innocent world that the flood would create.
Russell Crowe plays the title role brilliantly, capturing determination, fear and, most importantly, doubt. He understands that nothing can be done to stop the flood, and that it is meant to wipe out “wickedness,” as he puts it. But he finds that he and his family, like everyone else, are not without sin. At one point, he declares that he wasn’t chosen because he was good, but because the creator knew he would get the job done, refusing to equate obedience with virtue. Jennifer Connelly plays off Crowe well as Noah’s wife, Naameh, who becomes stronger and more independent as the story progresses.
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