I went and saw the movie Noah.
Hhhhmmmmm.
Was it good? Did you like it?
In my opinion there are pros and cons to this movie.
If you are a Biblical literalist that dislikes Hollywood’s artistic license, you will probably hate it.
Noah’s character. I think they began portraying Noah’s “character” with a good presentation. However… they went way to “dark” with him on the boat… and distorted the story with his potential actions to “end” humankind. Way too dark on Noah’s conclusions. Truth is- God chose Noah because he was a “righteous, blameless man, who walked with God”.
Judgment. Not so much cute little animals coming 2 x 2. The facts are it was 2 x 7 and 2 x 2. Go look it up and see what I mean. Clean and unclean. Also… Home Depot really has it wrong. The ark animals encircling our babies’ cribs at the crown molding is but just a part of the story. The truth is, it was a fierce, sad, scary, destructive, life ending judgment by God. I thought the movie portrayed this well in the flood scenes and dreams.
Green. I love God’s creation, nature, animals, and the earth… I thought they presented the wickedness of humankind appropriately, and I really enjoyed Noah’s retelling of Creation and the videography. It bordered just a bit too heavy on evolution-like, however, when they got to the glowing Adam and Eve in the garden, it was a good distance from an “evolving” presentation. So I liked that. The portrayal of the garden and the snake and the recurring dreams were good too.
Yet… there was a bit too much of a “greenish” tint to the theme. Meaning… man was bad, dominion was bad, and only the animals and nature without us would be good. That is not Biblical. God created man to have dominion over the earth. That’s not a bad thing. God created it that way and said “It was good”. Actually “very good”.
The Rock-Guardians. Ha. I guess they felt that they needed a little “transformers” in this movie. These creatures seemed to be a combination of the Biblical “Nephilim”, the sons of God, fallen angels, transformers, and maybe the tree sages in Lord of the Rings. Go look all that up. They helped Noah build the ark… really? Really? I’ll chalk that up as goofy, but not as bothersome to me as some of the other marred Biblical themes.
The Re-creation Account. I think a lot of us miss this. However, the movie did portray this well and with a bit of an emphasis. When you re-read the Noah account… pay attention to all of the Genesis Creation account language. It is very much a part of the story. So God’s intention was to re-populate the earth, and when they threw in the drama of Noah “deciding”… that’s not Biblical. God saved Noah and his wife, his 3 sons, and their wives, for the express purpose to re-create and re-populate.
The Stow-a-way. Ha. I just thought this was a bit worthless. The man who killed Noah’s dad and stole his snake bracelet just happens to make it onto the Ark and sway Ham to the dark side (for a moment). Come on. I loved Gladiator and Darth Vader… but this was an unnecessary addition.
Noah drunk and naked on the beach. Ha ha ha. I really got a chuckle out of this on so many levels. 1) All the sudden the director becomes a literalist. 2) The Biblical account itself is funny, odd, and great for interpretive imagination. 3) Just the fact that they included this shot of Russell Crowe overweight, drunk, isolated, and waking up with a hang over, naked, buttocks side up, on the beach.
I got so tickled I almost morphed into one of those moments where you start to giggle like a lil school girl and can’t stop yourself. It’s been since like 1994 in a Seminary Class with Elvyn since that happened to me. I began a sarcastic comedy routine right there in the movie theatre, whispering as much as I could to Nick who was beside me, lucky for him to be in that moment. It was good stuff,… good material. Just ask Nick.
Oh, and Merlin… I mean Methuselah. That was ok- but seemed to be reaching just to find a place for magic and Anthony Hopkins. He actually reminded me of those old blind hags in the original Clash of the Titans, and I just couldn’t figure out his whole cave set up… but I thought his quips about berries were hilarious. He had a healthy view on death too I think.
Genesis 6-9. Now crack open that Bible of yours, and go make a quick read of it, refresh your memory on the Biblical account, and don’t get culturally caught in believing ‘a story’ from ‘the story’ that isn’t correct in a lot of its artistic license. (Then why not go ahead tomorrow and pick another passage and read it too. And then the next day do the same. In that, this movie will have done some good.)
Was it good? Did you like it?
In my opinion there are pros and cons to this movie.