Erik Bates: “It was ok.”
Yeah, I don't know what to think about this one.
Part of me takes issue with the changing of some fundamental aspects of a well-known Bible story. Adding in conflict where there was none.
I don't fully understand this trend of books-turned-movies feel the need to add in an apocryphal love story (I'm looking at you, Peter Jackson). Do directors/producers/whoever think that the viewing audience is just too dense to recognize a good story -- and a much loved and established story -- without the addition of a love triangle, forbidden love, or whatever other fluffed-up saccharine relationship goop they cram in there?
Now, the Bible story itself is relatively short, so I understand needing to extend it a bit to make for a more compelling story. The use of the fallen angels fits with some interpretation of what the Nephilim were. I suppose it's conceivable that there might have been some neighboring folks who weren't too thrilled with Noah building this big ol' boat and wanted a piece of whatever action he was in on.
But the idea that Noah thought he was on a suicide mission and was determined to kill his grandchild? I'm sorry, that is just one line that I won't buy. If that were the case, why not just load all the animals up on the boat, leave his family behind, and hop on so someone will be around to open the door once the flood ends? Hell, in the Bible story, Noah's sons and their wives are on the boat. Clearly, procreation was intended.
If you take this story away from the Bible and just see it as a story about a flood and the conflict that happens as a result, then yeah, it's a good story. But I find it impossible to separate myself from the Biblical account I grew up hearing, so I take a lot of issue with it.
Still... it was ok.This review contains spoilers. Reveal it.
− July 29, 2014 • more by Erik • log in or create an account to reply
Scott Hardie: I hear you about Hollywood's compulsion to cram love stories into movies that don't need them. It's predictable, and it's also reductive, as women wind up relegated to playing only the superfluous love interests and not the important characters. I suspect that there's market research that indicates how much better ticket sales will be when there's a love story, so studios force them in. It takes a director with a lot of clout to keep that out of his or her project. (Or a respect for the material. Captain America: The Winter Soldier spent a lot of time with Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson alone together on adventures, and the actors are attractive and share good chemistry, and any other movie would have had them fall in love in a movie like that, but Marvel has bigger plans for them both.) − November 9, 2014 • more by Scott
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