Noah (12A) ***

Before the cameras even started rolling, the idea behind Noah has been claimed, pilloried and debated by both sides of the religious divide before anyone even got to see the film.

Aronofsky’s film opens with a telling of the biblical rise and decline of mankind according to the Old Testament, taking in well-known stories like the temptation of Adam and Eve and the killing of Abel by Cain.
We are presented with a world where corruption and war are dominant and the main leader is the wicked TubalCain (a very good Ray Winstone).

Then Noah (Russell Crowe) receives a series of visions that he believes to be from God, telling him that a storm’s a coming and that all of the world’s creatures must be saved.

The movie’s poorly paced in the first half and some of the more fantastical ideas - especially the addition of creatures like the Watchers, who look like Transformers make of rocks - are simply ridiculous.

Where Noah becomes interesting and compelling is in the second hour, where we start to question the morals and judgement of the central character as he goes into a mental decline (not unlike that of Natalie Portman’s character in Black Swan).

His conviction that mankind should not be saved does not sit well with his wife (Jennifer Connolly), their children and an innocent young girl (Emma Watson) who has been taken under the wing of the family.
It makes for an intense and fascinating finale to a movie that veers between baffling and gripping.

Divergent (12A) **

Based on the first of Veronica Roth’s series of hit novels, Divergent is the latest attempt by a major studio to catch on to the massive success of The Hunger Games. It’s a shame this story, though solid, never really catches fire.
Shailene Woodley, so good as George Clooney’s oldest daughter in The Descendants, takes the lead role of Tris Prior, a conflicted teenager.

Set in a dystopian Chicago, this society is divided into five different factions: Abnegation (selfless), Amity (peaceful), Candor (truthful), Erudite (intellectual) and Dauntless (brave).
Born Beatrice, Tris is in Abnegation and when she reaches a certain age, must decide whether to stay in this faction or change to the one she truly desires. The snag? If she swaps she can never go back, and most separate from her family forever.

There are other complications: Abnegation currently governs this society, but the leader of Erudite, Janine (Kate Winslet) feels her intelligent group should be in power.

Young people pick their faction with the help of a mind-controlling substance and during this process Tris discovers she is Divergent, one of a rare group of people who fits into none of the five factions and is in effect a loose cannon.

It sets out to be impressively complex but instead turns out to be convoluted and a bit nonsensical.