Photo via Paramount Pictures.

In the beginning there was nothing. And then The Creator made Adam and Eve, who gave birth to Cain, Abel, and Seth, and then some other things happened and eventually a studio came around to shell out about $160 million to make a large-scale biblical epic about Noah’s Ark.

The result is Noah, a gorgeously shot, sometimes thrilling but ultimately rote retelling of a man seeing visions of an apocalyptic storm that God (or The Creator, as the film refers to him as) will unleash to wipe out humanity because they’ve become corrupt and evil. Darren Aronofsky, the auteur behind such critically lauded films as Requiem for a Dream, The Wrestler, and Black Swan, puts his signature bleak-but-lush touch on it, giving the film a kind of grayish, scorched earth look, thanks in part to cinematographer Matthew Libatique.

But despite how striking Noah may look at times, there’s a narrative hollowness to the film that makes its 139 minute runtime a slog—even when the action is at peak destruction. Sure, there’s an interesting dynamic to how Aronofsky approaches the subject matter—exploring these biblical themes with a kind of existential meditation God’s will vs. man’s will and the darkness of humanity— but Aronofsky gets too bogged down with the age-old source material, that he never manages to make them click.

The film kicks off—literally—at the beginning of time. Or at least, the beginning of time according to the Bible. “In the beginning there was nothing,” a title card reads. After explaining the origins of fallen angels (who are interpreted as rock monsters called The Watchers) and how humanity has descended into two paths following the first murder—the wicked ways of Cain and the noble, righteous path of Seth—the film introduces us to the titular Noah (played stoically, but not always dynamically by Russell Crowe), the last direct descendent of Seth.

Traveling along on the fringes of society with his family—ostensibly to keep away from the sinful tribe of Cain descendants that have since taken over—Noah has visions of an apocalyptic flood that will wipe out humanity. He takes it as a sign from The Creator that he’s to build an epic ark to house two of every animal so that the world can start over free of humankind when the flood clears. With some help from The Watchers, his mystical grandfather (Anthony Hopkins), and The Creator himself, Noah and his family begin construction on the ark.

Photo via Paramount Pictures.

Ten years later, the Ark is nearly complete, but the secret is out: Tubal-cain (Ray Winstone)—the last living descendant of Cain—stumbles upon Noah’s ark, along with thousands of his starving, suffering followers. When the storm begins, they all want in, but Noah won’t them, and they all bullrush the ark, leading to what’s easily the film’s best and most thrilling set piece.

The central problem with Noah is that it raises complicated moral quandaries within its main characters, only to resolve them with predictably black-and-white situations. Ham (Logan Lerman), Noah’s middle son, is frustrated because his father did not find a wife for him before the flood started, and rebels by secretly harboring and scheming with Tubal-cain to kill Noah. Noah, convinced that he has to kill his newborn twin grandchildren because he thinks it’s The Creator’s will to completely purge the new world of humanity, breaks down because he can’t bring himself to do so. All of the moral complexities raised in the film reach their inevitably safe, predictable conclusions.

That doesn’t make Noah a complete waste, however. Particularly strong performances by Crowe and Jennifer Connelly (who plays his wife, Naameh), helps anchor the sometimes canned, empty dialogue (I wish the same could be said for Lerman and Emma Watson, who don’t quite handle the biblical period setting well), as well as Aronofsky’s stark, barren look and adventurous tone, which, at times, feels like Peter Jackson lite. There’s much to admire in Aronofsky’s attempt to make a classic bible story appealing without being preachy, but narrative cohesion is not one of those things.

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Noah
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Written by Darren Aronofsky, Ari Handel
With Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Ray Winstone, and Anthony Hopkins
Rated PG-13 for disturbing images, brief suggestive content, and violence.
Running time 139 minutes
Opens today in theaters everywhere.