Now Playing

Here's a look at the new movie I saw this week.

Noah
Starring: Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, and Logan Lerman
Synopsis: At one point Biblical epics were common among Hollywood films. The great Cecile B. DeMille gave the world “The Ten Commandments,” which is still a staple on the small screen around Easter each year. That was but one example of how filmmakers mined the most popular book in history, The Bible, for big screen epics. That hasn’t been the case recently. Aside from “The Passion of the Christ” — which invaded theaters a decade ago — most Bible stories have come from Christian companies and filmmakers. They aren’t wildly released or widely regarded. But perhaps that’s about to change. In December Christian Bale will offer his take on Moses in Ridley Scott’s epic “Exodus.” And in late March, Russell Crowe offered his take on a famous Bible hero in Darren Aronofsky’s take on “Noah.” “Noah” makes a feature length film out of a familiar story that is scant on details in the original Biblical text. The story of Noah lasts just three chapters in Genesis, touching on mostly broad strokes. For the film, Aronofsky and his co-writer, Ari Handel, sought to do justice to the story by augmenting it with ancillary texts of the Jewish faith. They populated the film with familiar stars, and made it through a big studio. But those hoping to see something faithful to Scripture — or just a well made movie — will likely come away disappointed. There are two ways to look at a film like this. First is to weigh it against its faithfulness to the source material — in this case the Bible. The second is to consider it as a film. As to the first, I admit I’m not familiar with some of the Jewish texts Handel and Aronofsky used to round out this story, so I won’t speak to that. In terms of the way the film follows Scripture, that’s hit-or-miss. Many Christian groups have protested the story laid out in the film. While it hits some of the key sequences of Scripture, to me it seems to miss the heart of the story, the point of the story and makes odd choices — such as never using the word God in the movie. Those who are seeking fidelity to Scripture will likely be upset with this film. It’s not what you would expect from reading the account of Noah in Genesis. While there are parts of the narrative that match the tone and details of what’s in the Biblical text, this film goes its own way — based largely on the ancillary sources and the writers’ interpretation of the point of the story. As to the second way to evaluate “Noah” — as a film — I found it to be a disappointment. Aronofsky has created some memorable and compelling, albeit dark, films during his career. He’s got a strong cast and a fascinating story to tackle with “Noah.” The film had the support — and allegedly budget — coming from major studio backing. Yet this is merely an average finished product. Setting aside how the film relates to its source material, I was disappointed in the uneven performances, uneven tone and poor special effects. In fact, some sequences of the film look like they rely on crude stop motion animation — not something you’d expect from a studio epic in 2014. One of the criticisms of Christian films has been that they’re poorly made, regardless of how faithful and inspiring the story is. That is a pitfall for “Noah” as well. The story is weird, and the film feels poorly told. That might be its biggest failing. I’m excited that studios are once again mining The Bible for big screen epics. I remain curious to see what comes of this new-found interest in telling stories from Scripture. But I hope they’re both more faithful to the source material and show better craftsmanship than what we got in “Noah.”
Rating: PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief suggestive content.
Verdict: Two stars out of four.

Upcoming Releases:

Thursday, April 17 — "Transcendence"

Friday, April 18 — "Bears," "A Haunted House 2"

Friday, April 25 — "The Other Woman," "The Quiet Ones," "Brick Mansions"