Directed by Darren Aronofsky
(PG-13)
***
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“It’s impossible not to be impressed, engaged, and moved” by the passion that director Darren Aronofsky brings to one of great tales of the Old Testament, said Ann Hornaday in The Washington Post. He’s boldly expanded the Bible’s terse fable about a believer whose faith carries him through an apocalyptic flood, yet even Aronofsky’s “goofy” popcorn-movie flourishes never overwhelm the original story’s eternal resonances. Russell Crowe “turns out to be perfectly cast in the title role,” said Ty Burr in The Boston Globe. Pre-flood, he does battle with a godless warlord (Ray Winstone) and a band of ridiculous-looking giants “who appear to have wandered over from one of the Hobbit movies.” But he forever straddles the line “where righteousness becomes mania,” and he never lacks moral authority. Some Bible readers will no doubt argue that Aronofsky took too many liberties, but really, “the riskiest thing about the movie is its sincerity,” said A.O. Scott in The New York Times. “Noah is occasionally clumsy, ridiculous, and unconvincing,” but it is morally ambitious and “almost never dull.”
