Noah: 'The Least Biblical Movie Ever Made'

The headline quote is from director Darren Aronofsky, who's made exactly the movie that interested him, one that doesn't have much in common with the Old Testament story as it's taught in most all churches today. Noah (out now on Blu-ray, DVD and Digital) has more in common with a movie like Thor than it does The Ten Commandments. It's a pretty good action picture if you're not going to get hung up on its lack of fidelity to the Bible. %embed1%

International audiences made Noah a big hit and it performed pretty well here in the States even though it didn't reach Marvel-level box office heights.

Russell Crowe gets to play a wide range of ages of Noah and gets to sport a wide variety of hair looks. He seems a lot more engaged by this part than by anything he's played lately and gives his best performance in a long while, probably since the 3:10 to Yuma remake back in 2007.

The movie also stars Logan Lerman as Noah's son Ham. Lerman will feature as the new guy in the tank in this fall's Fury. Lerman previously appeared in The Perks of Being a Wallflower with Emma Watson, who appears here as the wife of Noah's son Shem (played by new guy Douglas Booth). Jennifer Connelly plays Noah's wife Naameh.  Anthony Hopkins plays Noah's grandfather and Ray Winstone plays the bad guy who gets smuggled on board the ark (what? you don't remember Tubal-cain having an onboard fight to the death with Noah after the flood?). Both Brit actors add to the Marvel/Tolkien action picture flavor here.

The special effects are really outstanding and both the digital ark and the digital animals look great. So do the Walkers who help build the ark (what? you don't remember a race of rock giants who are sort of like angels trapped on earth by the Creator?)

Noah is not a boring movie and it seems shorter than it's 2:15 running time. If you can get past the fact that the film's not going to pass a fact-checking session at Vacation Bible School, it's worth a look. The Blu-ray features some ponderous documentaries with their own score, including one that details the shoot in Iceland. The movie also features an excellent Patti Smith collaboration with the Kronos Quartet called "Mercy Is."