Noah (Trailer) 2014

Noah, to be released on the 28th March 2014, tells the biblical story of Noah, the arch and the flood.

I have to say, before today, I didn't even realise this had been made into a film. The cast includes Russell Crowe as Noah, Jennifer Connelly as his wife Naameh, also Emma Watson as Ila and the Anthony Hopkins as Methuselah. The film is directed by Darren Aronofsky of Requiem for a Dream (2000), The Wrestler (2008) and  Black Swan (2010) to name a few.

I am slightly dumbfounded right now, I came across this film through Emma Watson's twitter feed, immediately watched the trailer then decided to blog about it right away.





Hollywood has many a time visited stories from the Bible from Charlton Heston's portrayol of Moses in the Ten Commandments (1956) to Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ (2004). There are even films such as Kevin Smith's Dogma (1999) that visits Christianity and the Bible through different messages and figures from the texts.

My first thought when I watched the trailer was one of mild panic. Put aside all beliefs here, and looking at it purely from the fact that Hollywood has taken a written story and transformed it into a film, I wonder what liberties and side stories they have added in to make it their blockbuster? Think of The Hobbit, all the faith we had in Peter Jackson's ability to bring to us Middle Earth, especially after the success of the Lord of the Rings films. Then he tells us The Hobbit too will be a trilogy. I don't know how everyone felt about the first, and for those who have seen it, the second of the three parter, I have only seen An Unexpected Journey; I thought it strayed too far, too often from the original story. Why stretch it out into a self indulgent three parter that takes away from the classic book that is seemingly a third the size of the LOTR trilogy? Well, to address one of those points, Noah is very much in one part, but then looking at the trailer there is a lot of story about a king and a whole army of people who want on the ark..? Or destroy it, I've got to watch it again. 

So what to expect? Lot's of CG storm effects, animals arriving in their two's, or masses it seems in the trailer. Apparently they have all been tweaked as to resemble different animals to the ones we know today. 

I am glad to be seeing Jennifer Connelly again, last time she was married to Crowe they were in a Beautiful Mind (2001). Also I can never not think about Connelly and think about The Labyrinth so I'm always happy to see her. Also I tend to trust Emma Watson's choice, I usually enjoy her taste of films, so we'll see here whether the trust can remain. Before we go any further have a watch of the trailer yourself:

I really don't know what to say about this yet, I can just question it, why Russell Crowe? (Apparently Christian Bale and Micheal Fassbender were offered the part before, but declined due to scheduling conflicts). Maybe it's his great voice, it really carries and he articulates beautifully. It's just like watching The Gladiator again. I am not even going to get into the what race was Noah debate. However this is really an obvious white washing by Hollywood here, there is no denying that when watching the trailer, they did it again.

I suppose I can't comment much till I have seen the film, I don't know whether I will see it in the cinema or wait till I can watch it from the comfort of my own home. Either way I will be skeptical. Whether you are a Christian or not this is Hollywood visiting a well known story, one that they Producer Scott Franklin did state they had to "take some creative expression in it" to "fill the gaps". So be prepared when going to see this film, I know I'll be.