There is a lot of chat about the scriptural accuracy of Aronofsky’s film, as if that had anything to do with it being a ‘good’ film or not. Well, I can’t vouch for the strictness of the adaptation (as you might of guessed I couldn’t really care less either) but it is a good film. It’s modern big budget cinema at it’s most interesting and with a real sense of mission.

The reason that this film really works is that it is a steadfastly religious work. The film not only explicitly cites a ‘creator’ but presents a world in which God plays an active and immediate role. Noah himself is played as a servant (Crowe brings to the role all the pressure and heavy obligation that that entails) and the central idea, that the Ark is the church, is strongly represented. Despite all this, and rather crucially, the film doesn’t preach (even in what some might see as it’s more secular environmentalist side) or gloat in the destruction of the wicked.

…but we’re also here for the spectacle and Noah doesn’t disappoint. Whether it’s the stunning time-lapse creation story, the destroyed landscape (both of which raise the fascinating idea that this is a future story rather than an ancient one), or the cathedral like Ark and the nightmarish flood itself, this is a film of bold, and often breath-taking, images.

Aronofsky unleashed and highly recommended.