Noah Begins: First Trailer for Biblical Epic with Russell Crowe

Russel Crowe is about to get biblical on the ass of Ray Winstone in the new trailer for Darren Aronofsky's Noah. The brand new trailer sees a storm brewing in ye olden days as Crowe's Noah gathers his family around him in order to build an ark. If you don't know the story then you obviously missed Sunday School. God tells Noah he is about to cleanse the Earth of sin by sending a huge flood to drown the planet. Only those on Noah's ark will be saved so the the animals start to arrive two by two and he hastily builds the thing before the rain comes and washes everything away.

Darren Aronofsky is a long, long way from the early days of his career making low budget dramas like Pi and Requiem for a Dream and though he has dabbled in the waters of the mainstream with critically lauded works such as The Wrestler and Black Swan, this will be easily his biggest budget and most epic undertaking to date. Requiem for a Dream is one of my favourite films of all time but Noah looks a million miles away from that stylish and brutally bleak moralistic tale of drug addiction and despair.

The trailer looks pretty spectacular with Russel Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Ray Winstone, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Watson and Logan Lerman all taking centre stage. Its a heavy hitting cast and Aronofsky looks set to spice things up with plenty of action and epic special effects. It should wash away the remnants of any memories of Evan Almighty anyway. Let's hope with all the tools at his disposal, Aronofsky does not turn this into a biblical version of Roland Emmerich's 2012 though.

Russel Crowe might be more action man than dedicated God follower and his Noah is likely to take on the hordes outside led by Ray Winstone (Noah you slaaaaaaag) with a dash of Maximus and a sprinkle of Robin Hood. There are two versions of the trailer, one for the US and one for the UK. Either one you choose, this is definitely just the beginning of a marketing campaign that will likely flood our brains right up until its March 2014 release. Both trailers are below:

US version



UK version



What do you think?

Man of Steel Review: The Clark Knight Rises

As producer, Christopher Nolan has left his mark on the new Superman but there was never much chance of him bringing the man who could fly back to earth in the same way as he did with Batman. Zack Snyder has a tougher job to make alien Kal-El and his antagonist General Zod anywhere near as convincing as what Nolan did with another caped crusader in his Dark Knight trilogy. But Snyder does try and he is occasionally successful.

In Man of Steel, Superman's roots as the last son of Krypton are explored and his early years on Earth also get frequent flashbacks that are frequently some of the best scenes in the film. The Krypton set spectacle at the start does not convey the emotion of what is intended and the CG effects are more over whelming than incredible. Snyder over does the style and loses some of the heart despite Russell Crowe as Jor-El acting his socks off like its theatre and Michael Shannon bringing the menace with ease.

What works better are the flashbacks to Clark's childhood down on Planet Earth. Here Snyder matches style with substance; the young Clark struggling to accept his difference from the other children and over whelmed by the extent of his powers. It makes you wish for more from the young Clark; a real Superman Begins that delves deeper into the Smallville years.

For all Man of Steel's epic clashes including a barn storming (and smashing) Smallville set piece, the action can never maintain its hold on the heart or the head where so much special effects are thrown on screen. It's not that there is any problem with the special effects themselves but when the action ramps up and two (or three or more) super beings start going at it, it all loses any sense of believability that has been built up before.

Perhaps it is unfair to expect the same level of grounded realism that made the Dark Knight such a convincing part of the modern world but Man of Steel does try. Metropolis has many recognisable elements and the destruction of the climactic scenes all has that familiar 9/11 feeling with dust covered survivors, buildings falling and a city turned to ash. Unfortunately there is very little sense of the extraordinary amount of death Zod's plan has caused and Superman saves far too few people in his city to warrant the happy ending that is undoubtedly on the cards. Again, the CG effects over whelm rather than immerse.

So the Nolan influence is present as even in the midst of all the spaceships and super beings pounding seven shades out of each other, there is some sense that Superman is a believable creation and the world of characters (most notably the military) reacts accordingly. However occasionally there are just too many CG filled shots with one Superman vs giant space machine fight being particularly far out and therefore hard to engage with. It is all very well to believe a man can fly but when you have a hero fighting giant CG tentacles, it quickly loses interest... unless of course that is exactly what you came to a Superman movie for.

Better but still occasionally over loaded are the scenes of combat between Superman and Zod. While Shannon gets lumped with numerous clichés for threatening lines, the clashes are occasionally spectacular and drawn out only a little too long. At least their faces are not computer generated and their acting convinces.

It is a shame that Shannon gets so many heard-it-all-before lines as there is a good strong character in Zod and it is easy to quickly put Terence Stamp's version out of mind. The script is filled with solid characters, making this the most convincingly constructed Superman movie ever. The Kents are concerned, noble foster parents to Kal-El with Kevin Costner giving a fairly brief but powerful performance, there is an overly obvious but welcome attempt to make Lois Lane a strong and smart journalist (but who still needs frequent rescue) and Clark himself is a man with a secret and a real desire to keep it.

As Kent/Kal-El Henry Cavill has more than just the incredible physique and the handsome face. While he might make the ladies swoon, he also completely convinces as both the other worldly outcast and in a brilliant final scene the Clark Kent we are all so familiar with. Cavill is excellent, as is Hans Zimmer's wonderful score even if there is nothing quite matching the original Superman theme.

While Snyder frequently gets carried away with the spectacle and special effects, the story and particularly Kal-El's characterization is strong enough to make Man of Steel take off. Though it may not convince as much as Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy, Superman is a tougher caped crusader to sell in the real world. Man of Steel does however make Clark Kent fascinating and ends the film with the potential for a sequel that will take him onto much more familiar ground. With hints that Lex Luthor might be the next villain in Man of Steel 2, let’s hope Snyder tones down the CGI in favour of more practical and believable effects and makes a Man of Steel 2 that really flies.

Recent reviews at I Love That Film:

This is the End Review 

Fast and Furious 6 Review

Ruby Sparks Review

The Look of Love Review 

21 & Over Review

Iron Man 3 Review

Olympus Has Fallen Review

Spring Breakers Review

Les Misérables Review

I got invited back to the From the Red Carpet Film Club again this week and the film we had to see before our Facebook discussion on Sunday was Best Picture contender Les Misérables starring Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Russell Crowe. Here is my review and here are links to all the other films I've seen thanks to free tickets from From the Red Carpet:

The Impossible

The Silver Linings Playbook

Skyfall

Looper

Premium Rush

Musicals drive me mad. All that spontaneously bursting into song seems silly and just doesn’t slide with me. While many of the songs in Les Misérables outstay their welcome, as does the film slightly, it is nevertheless a bold and brilliant piece of cinema. 

The story of Jean Valjean, the reformed criminal hunted by the tenacious Inspector Javert, takes a while to get going until Anne Hathaway shows up and blows everyone else off the screen. The opening scenes are hampered by exposition that is delivered in sickly over sized spoonfuls and all in song. While the continuous music makes the singing more palatable, the film fails to fly until Hathaway’s Fantine makes an appearance.

Hathaway delivers heart wrenching emotions at the horrendous situation Fantine finds herself in. It is the undisputed high point of the film as a character that we quickly find ourselves caring about reaches her incredible low point. The rest of the cast are also impressive with frequently fantastic performances from Jackman, Hathaway and Redmayne. Their emotions, helped mostly by wonderful music, burst off the screen captured in intimate close ups.

Crowe doesn't quite have the vocal talent of the rest of the cast and his songs are certainly the least exciting, though some of Jackman’s songs also make the interest wobble despite his emotive performance. Hathaway will be robbed if she fails to get the best supporting actress Oscar, with both her singing and acting being perfectly in tune with each other and absolutely breathtaking. Eddie Redmayne's Empty Chairs at Empty Tables performance is another astonishing high point, tear jerking and hard to match by any of the other songs or performances. Director Tom Hooper’s decision to capture all the singing live on set really pays off, lending the big numbers an immediacy and power that stage show fans and movie sceptics may have thought the film version would fail to capture. The live singing might slightly detract from the perfection of the vocals but it creates an immersive quality that, aided by close ups, surely must match or better the experience of the theatre musical.

The Thenardiers are a welcome bit of comic relief and Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter are great fun. It is a joy to see Sacha Baron Cohen relish a role, having turned down a part in Django Unchained and managing to wash away the memory of his silliness in Hugo.

Les Misérables has a huge cast of characters and it all revolves around Jackman’s Jean Valjean. While this character is saintly and less interesting than many others, Jackman delivers an incredible performance, starting off almost unrecognisable before finally delivering a very emotional climax by the end. Amanda Seyfreid’s Cosette gets short shrift as we barely learn a thing about the older incarnation of the character despite a promising introduction to the younger version. She has the least interesting character in the story, despite overall pretty poor representations of women. Seyfried hits the high notes admirably however. Aaron Tveit’s Enjolras also loses out; having to take a back seat to a soppy love story that sadly lacks as much interest as the story of the revolt.

Long films are fine but some of the songs go on and on and as the film hits an emotional highpoint with Redmayne’s rendition of Empty Chairs, the end of the film after the revolutionaries have lost starts to sag in comparison. Though Hathaway's reappearance near the end is very welcome, the young lovers ending up together seems insignificant after what has come before. Ending on Empty Chairs would have been truly miserable and made the film version unforgettable.

 

Nevertheless, Les Miserables is a moving musical powered by astonishing performances, some brilliant songs and a story that plumbs the depths of despair before settling on a soppy love story that fails to capture the emotions of early scenes. It overstays its welcome but is still a huge achievement from a gifted director and mightily impressive cast.

8/10