Noah

author: Darren Aronofsky

name: Wayne

average rating: 3.59

book published: 2011

rating: 2

read at: 2014/05/27

date added: 2014/05/27

shelves: graphic-novels

review:

'Noah' by Darran Aronofsky is the graphic novel adaptation of his retelling of the biblical story. Retelling is definitely safe because short of a few character names and events, the rest has been completely retold including a 'final solution' from Noah as to what should happen to save the earth.



Noah is a good man, bent on saving the world and it's ecology from men. When he sees a herd of beasts being slaughtered for their horns and left to rot, he mourns. He attempts to confront the men and is driven into isolation when they retaliate with violence. He hears or imagines a plan in which the earth is wiped out by a flood (it's never clear if Noah is divinely inspired or a bit of a loon, or a bit of both). He decides to build and ark, and he is helped by rock giants, which turn out to be cast out angels. When the violent men show up to get on board the ark, there is a big fight. Once the water has lifted the ark, Noah reveals his plan. Once the ark has settled on dry ground and all the animals are free, then he will just let man die off. That this plan doesn't go over so well with his wife and children is a pretty big understatement.



There are a couple puzzling aspects to this. If you don't like God or the Bible, why would you choose to tell this story when you could have made up a perfectly good one out of thin air. Don't even involve a story that many know so well. Secondly, if you are so opposed to the supernatural aspects of the original story, why invent new ones? The rock angels are just weird in this context. The only good people are Noah and his family, and I kind of even question that. Perhaps only the few women characters are actually worth saving out of this bunch.



The art by Niko Henrichon is the only reason this gets any stars. It's pretty good (although the eyes are a bit wide and crazy, but maybe that's the idea), and very detailed. The art is better than the story deserves. I want to see Niko do a vast SF story. His art has an otherworld quality that I really liked.



I know this movie got lots of great reviews, but based on this graphic novel, I'd say it's a gamble by a good director that falls a bit short in execution.



I was given a review copy of this graphic novel by Diamond Book Distributors and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.





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