Noah
Dir: Darren Aronofsky
2014
**
Darren Aronofsky is a director I adore, the visuals and the enormity of this film are recognisably his but the fact that the film isn't very good is a complete surprise. Everyone has their bad days, like I say, the visuals are fantastic and the enormity of the film is impressive but none of the flare, realism (which can exist in fantasy, much like in Aronofsky's The Fountain) or intent that we expect from him. The performances aren't terrible but they're not particularly memorable either, the problem is the story. It's a complete contradiction. Whether you like/dislike/believe/think the story of Noah is a load of old nonsense, it just doesn't work when taken away from its original form. How can the story of Noah be 'Biblically inspired'? If anything they should have gone full fantasy with the film as the fallen angels/rock people were the best thing about it. The fact that they didn't utilise any single animal that was on the arch was also a huge mistake, it was after all a huge part of the story and no doubt something everyone would have liked to have seen. At least I would. The last half of the film was pretty tiresome and the conclusion was pretty far from the payoff I felt the viewer deserved. You can't declare you're sticking to the original story one minute and then adding your own ideas the next either. A bad day in the office for a brilliant director.