Noah Begins

This one is a long story. So, back in March I was in Indonesia and this Aronofsky latest is definitely on my watchlist while in Indonesia. But weeks prior to its planned release, I kept hearing news that Noah is banned in many Muslim countries, even Malaysia. I became suspicious, Indonesia a self-proclaimedly proud country with Muslim majority must be making up its mind about the film. Then about three days before the release, Noah was pulled from every coming soon list in cinemas. The censorship board was: Noah might bring restlessness that can affect people's beliefs and also the country's condition leading up to the national election three months later. What. A. Lot. Of. Bull. Fucking. Shit. Anyway, here I am three months later in Japan finally watching the film in its glory in cinemas. After last time, I missed Black Swan in cinemas because of Indonesian government stupidity (see the Hollywood film boycott in 2011), I would not miss any more Darren Aronofsky film.

The film is a different take on that story from the Bible. Noah is tasked with saving the animals by God who wants to wipe out humanity because their bad deeds were beyond saving. After Cain/Abel incident, the world was divided into two: the Cain family who brought darkness and the Seth family who brought blessings. Don't forget additional Bible mythology that includes The Watchers, fallen angels trapped in the constraints of the Earth. Bottom line, this is not your religion class' version of the tale of Noah.

Even as a (supposedly) devout Catholic, this film surprised me a lot. I don't mind that God was not mentioned, The Creator was one of God's nickname anyway. If we complained about that, then all those dinosaur fossils can complain because apparently Brontosauruses was called Long Necks in The Land Before Time. It has strange customs that involves snakeskin from the Garden of Eden snake, old guy craving for berries, and exotically fictional animals. What bugged me the most was Noah's struggle that was very dark. Noah let an innocent girl die, and almost (spoiler) killed two other innocent lives. He was very grim and unlike what you imagined in the Bible. And no, God did not call out on Noah and his family that it was time to be in the lands. There's no God's voice. It is also different from the Bible firstly from the fact the in this film Noah is not some hundred years old and all of his boys already have wives. There are many creative takes on the story and I need to watch it again in order to fully understand Aronofsky's intention. It's also a shame that the film chose not to spend more time on how Noah and the Watchers build the ark. But what was amazing was all the majestic scenes: the creation scene and the holy water scene. Clint Mansell's score is also amazing. It's a wonder those speakers at the cinema could handle that much of awesomeness. Despite the creative freedom taken by Aronofsky, the theme raised in the film was very resonant and religious. The take on how water was used instead of fire to annihilate mankind was amazing too. Water was cleansing and purifying whereas fire was pure destruction. It was beautiful. The cast is also great, Russell Crowe is fitting as the rugged and gritty Noah. I think this version of Noah that we now see is a product of Christopher Nolan and Batman Begins' influence. The year 2005 saw everything changed into grittiness and realism, but thankfully Darren Aronofsky still awes us with fantasy in this film. Noah: rated 3/4 (basically because I need to watch it again)


Next up: my report on seeing Tom Cruise in Fukuoka.
Next next up: review on Jay Depp's Transcendence or double feature of Edge of Tomorrow/Maleficent

Back to the Future

Fox's X-Men franchise has been around for 14 years now and during that timeframe, they already have six films. Mostly with great reviews but surely they had misfires as well, please refer to X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins: Wolverine. What's past is past, and it would be written in history unless they had the power to change the upcoming history. Enter X-Men: Days of Future Past. Based on a super popular comic series, it unites franchise veterans and newbies (not n00b newbies, but incredible newbies). It is a smart move, to expand the 14-year-old franchise, to disown the bad films, and to match The Avengers team power.

The story is a convoluted one. The original trilogy X-Men are in the bleak future where mutants are hunted by advanced Sentinels. Sentinels were created by Bolivar Trask, Mystique/Raven's first murder victim back in the 1960s. Mutants are forced to hide, even in China. Professor X (who's miraculously resurrected) and Magneto (who's miraculously regained his power) agreed to send Wolverine back in time to prevent Mystique from killing Trask. In the process, Wolverine witnessed young Magneto and young Professor's struggle and power as well as experiencing first hand Quicksilver's powers.

It's super great, I tell you, as a film. However, as an addition to a franchise this might be handicapped. There are so many plot holes inside the franchise that it's beyond saving. Firstly, so with the existence of DoFP, what happens to the other films? Does the original trilogy exist? Do the Wolverine spinoffs exist? It's such a shame especially with the case of The Wolverine where Wolvie meets his uber-hot Japanese girlfriend. However, let's praise the film. The cast is amazing. It's been a while since I experienced Fassbender and damn it's good to be back. James McAvoy is also great as the rugged and lost Professor X. Wolverine's a bit put aside but as always Hugh Jackman is the definitive embodiment of Wolverine. Best scenes: Quicksilver and Magneto's escape, young and old Professor X meets, and all the action scenes. One of the problem with the film is John Ottman's music that is too Zimmer-influenced. All that Inception horns are so bad to go with the incredible action. And that anti-climactic, anti-curiosity Apocalypse end-credits. Ah, and there's not enough room for Peter Dinklage to shine! At least we could still look forward to fifth season of Game of Thrones.

While X-Men: Days of Future Past remained great, the biggest problem in it is the whole 'fixing the franchise' thing. Continuity is ruined and there seemed to be too many plotholes to mention. And let's not forget that in my logic, even though Mystique saved Nixon, Magneto still attacked Nixon before, isn't that also make the mutants dangerous? If I were Trask, I would still pursue the Sentinel project. Also the future Sentinel design is so strange and out of place. And there's not enough time to introduce all those new future mutants. The only one shining bright is Blink with her teleportation device/mutation/ability/whatevs. X-Men: Days of Future Past: rated 3.5/4


This post has been lying around for three weeks now. Sorry for the delay. I'm going to roll out Noah review and my post about my experience joining Tom Cruise's Edge of Tomorrow fan meeting within days before July. Bear with me!