Noah: Movie Review

Noah, starring Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, and Emma Watson, starts out with lots of action.  Like the story from Genesis, Noah gets divine visions from God that warn him of the upcoming flood.  It's not God who he seeks for answers, but his grandfather, Methuselah (Anthony Hopkins).  Methuselah is the man who lived the longest in the Bible.  Methuselah's father, Noah's great-grandfather, was Enoch.  Methuselah spells it out for Noah on what he is supposed to do. 

A forest of trees magically grows by Noah's home.  He has "Watchers" to help him prepare the ark.  These "Watchers" are different than the ones mentioned in Enoch.  They are angels, but encrusted in rock and gigantic in size.  Most of these "Watchers" choose to live with the rest of the world and partake in evil doings.  Noah's "Watchers" seek God's redemption.
Once Noah begins building the ark, the animals slowly find their way and take up residence in their stalls.  The nearby townspeople threaten Noah, but his "Watchers" protect him.  Noah's sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, want wives to bring on the ark once the rain begins.  Shem is very interested in Emma Watson's character, an orphaned girl that Noah and his wife raised for over a decade.  The only problem is that Emma Watson's character is barren and she wants Shem to have a wife who can give him a baby.  Methuselah, who has supernatural powers, fixes this problem.  Ham also has a love interest, but Noah puts the kibosh on the potential marriage.  Japheth has no one.
Once the rain begins to fall, they high-tail it to the ark.  The townspeople also want in.  Again, the "Watchers" protect Noah and his family.  As they rid the angry townspeople, they burst out of their earth-rock bodies and beam up to Heaven.

Life on the boat gets to Noah and the whole family.  Ham finds the town leader, Tubal-Cain, on board as a stowaway.  Instead of going to his father, he feeds the man and plots to kill Noah because he is still furious about the potential wife Noah left behind.  Shem gets Emma Watson's character pregnant and Noah promises to kill the child.  At the end of the movie he almost kills her twin daughters, but has a change of heart.  They find land, but Noah and his wife separate.  He becomes an old drunk and then Ham leaves the whole family to go his separate way.  Eventually, Noah and his wife reunite.  They live "happily ever after" with his two sons, daughter-in-law, and two grandchildren.
My Review:
Wow, where do I start...Watchers and nephilim are my thing.  I wrote two novels (Halo of the Damned and Halo of the Nephilim) based off of Enoch and the Great Deluge.  The "Watchers" were inaccurately portrayed in this movie.  I liked the mystique of Methuselah, but do not recall his character in the Bible story.  Perhaps it was in another writing.  Mathematically speaking, he could have been around before the Flood.  There is no mention of Shem's wife having twin daughters on the ark, let alone Noah attempting to kill them off.  I was taken aback and a little offended when the director turned Noah into the bad guy.  I read in other writings that Ham left his family.  Some believe he went to what is now called Germany.  All in all, the movie was entertaining.  My biggest problem is the accuracy.  I am not sure why the story was heavily altered.  For instance, there is never any mention of Tubal-Cain being a stowaway on the ark.  So why drift so far from the written word?  As a Christian, I'm looking for a retelling of the Bible with some dramatic license and other theories/writings thrown in.  On the other hand, if extra drama gets people interested in the Bible, then bravo to Director Darren Aronofsky.  Russell Crowe was great as was the entire cast.  The special effects were spectacular.   4/5 Stars