How you view the movie NOAH, released this week on DVD,
will depend on how you view the source material the story comes from. If you
consider the Bible to be a collection of fairy tales with absolutely no basis
in fact then you might like the movie. If you believe in the Bible as truth
then you may hate it. I think in the end it falls somewhere in between, a movie
brought to you by the same folks who believe that no matter what the source material
is they can always make the original story better. Of course they do so with
over the top special effects and by changing the story to the point of it being
unrecognizable at times. But hey, that's Hollywood.
If for some strange reason you aren't familiar with the
story then read Genesis in the Bible where you will be told about God being
displeased with the state of the world and determining to eradicate man from it
with the exception of faithful Noah and his family. The movie kind of uses that
story but alters quite a bit. To begin with God doesn't speak to Noah (Russell
Crowe) but rather tells him what is coming via dreams. Noah trusts the dreams
he has and seeks out his grandfather Methuselah (Anthony Hopkins).
Here is where it gets weird. As Noah and his family head to
his grandfather's location they are pursued by a band of thieves. As they head
across a wasteland to escape them the thieves stop because they see a group of
giant rock men towering over Noah for protection. The giants explain to Noah
that they are angels who tried to help Adam after the whole apple debacle and
were then condemned to these forms by God for doing so. Now they set out to
help Noah as he explains to his family they are to build an ark and fill it
with animals, all of this after consulting his grandfather.
With the aid of the giants things move along steadily until
one day the birds begin to fly into the enormous structure. Then the snakes and
reptiles join them. Before the animals can get in as well a group of men led by
Tubal-Cain (Ray Winstone) arrives to see what is going on. Tubal-Cain claims to
be the ruler of the area and demands that Noah obey him. Once again the giants
protect Noah and Tubal-Cain backs down as he builds up an army big enough to
take them on.
Through it all Noah struggles with his family as they go
back and forth trying to decide if he's crazy or not. None of them seems to be
touched by God, spoken too by him or trusting that Noah actually heard from
him. One son nearly runs away, another takes on a woman who may be sterile and
the last is too young to even be interested in women. All of this happens in
the first half of the movie's over 2 hour length. I won't ruin it for some by
revealing what else happens. The rest of you won't care by this point.
So what good can I say about the movie? If I were reviewing
it solely on the movie making merits alone I would say it garners and okay
rating. It's not something I would watch again or want to add to my collection.
The effects are good but the script seems lacking, as if in trying to press hot
topic issues of today into the film they sacrificed the original story. There
is far too much going on here from supposed global warming issues to Noah
nearly becoming the first abortionist. The acting, due to the script, never
rises above it and just sits there.
The bad. So much to go with here. The whole angels/rock
giants thing seemed stupid. The fact Noah's sons were not grown with wives but
were various ages was twisted for dramatic effect. The whole Tubal-Cain
concept, again, was added just to increase the drama of the film. Noah's
struggle with ridicule is tossed aside and replaced with his believing that God
has saved his family so they can be the end of mankind rather than the
beginning. Even in the end he feels he has failed God because he allowed his
family to live.
As I said, Hollywood is notorious
for taking an original novel, or in this case the Bible, and then changing
nearly everything about it thinking they can improve on the original. And in
nearly every single case of that happening, they fail. Why they would attempt
to revamp one of the oldest stories ever told and loved by so many I'll never
know. Perhaps it was all about money. Perhaps they really don't care about the
source material. For me if that were the case I'd rather they just not make
movies like this. My guess is that they've seen religion related movies making
money and thought they could jump on the bandwagon. They should have actually
watched a few of those movies to see that they were based on faith and stories
of faith rather than smash bang explosions and special effects. If the upcoming
Bible related films are anything like this one I think I may pass.
Click here to order.
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