Noah (2014) Review

In the years leading up to the release of Noah, I was admittedly hesitant. The weird, eclectic, indie director Darren Aronofsky was making a big budget Hollywood Blockbuster?! Based on the story of Noah?!! Needless to say, I was cautious. Then the final word came down that after reshoots and studio trouble, Aronofsky was granted final cut of the film, I became curious again. Now that the film has been released, the extreme division in audience reaction to the film set my expectations to a grounded level but my interest was at its peak. Tales of unmatched tone, typical Aronofsky weirdness and darkness, bizarre modifications to the story of Noah, and the beautiful presentation it was all wrapped in did nothing but light my fire to see the film; yet I knew better than to go into the film with anything besides tempered expectations and a mindset for potential failure and disappointment.

I’ve now seen the film…and I was blown away. This film is tremendous!

In the attempt to try and get my multitudes of thoughts and feelings about this film down on paper, I’ve decided to take a more analytical approach. This review is broken up into six sections, each of which will be spread across the different pages here. Be forewarned, I will be going into extreme spoiler territory in my efforts to discuss the film. Since the story of Noah’s Ark is extremely known the world over, there’s not too much to spoil; but if you wish to remain in the dark about the specifics of the film that are not a part of the traditional telling of Noah’s Ark, you have been warned.

There is no tl;dr version, so set aside some time and let’s delve into the world of Noah together.