Russell Crowe’s Divisive $359M Epic Gets Glowing Review From VFX Artists 10 Years Later

Russell Crowe’s divisive epic movie Noah gets a glowing review from VFX artists 10 years after its original release. Inspired by Noah’s Ark, the biblical drama follows a man (Crowe), chosen by God to construct a vessel for his family and various animals to brave an impending apocalyptic flood. Along with Crowe, the cast of Noah includes Jennifer Connelly, Logan Lerman, Emma Watson, Anthony Hopkins, Ray Winstone, and more. The film, directed by Darren Aronofsky, earned over $359 million at the box office, and though met with polarizing reactions, audiences praised the effects.

In the recent “VFX Artists React to Bad & Great CGI” video, Corridor Crew looked at several moments from Noah. When it came to digitally creating all of those animals, Niko explained: “This is so impressive because you have to have an artist effectively model each one of these creatures.“ They also discussed the process, with Jordan revealing how skeletons were made for certain animals, followed by varying shapes, colors, and other visible characteristics. Read more of his comments below:

They grouped these animals that they wanted to create based on their movement, essentially, and then created a core skeleton for each of these larger groups and on that skeleton, they built what are called variants. Basically, different body shapes. You know, pretty dramatically different. And then, on top of those, they built a variety of different pelts or colors and textures that they could put on. And then, if you start randomizing the distribution amongst all of those, now you can start getting some significant breakup, and you get tons of different animals and types of animals out of, you know, one core skeleton and a few different body types.

Another sequence, which Jordan considered “the crowning achievement of the entire film,” was the montage of evolution. Depicting creation, and even violence among humans, Corridor Crew explained how these shots likely took a long time, especially the portrayal of different animals, and Niko mentioned how this would have been done before AI. Read Niko’s comments below:

Love it. This shift to like the style, like photography. Up close. Macro. My God, every frame being a new model effectively and being a new background, and this is the era before like generative AI, we could probably kick out like a bajillion like generic backgrounds.

What The Impressive VFX Meant For Noah

Despite Being A Divisive Film, The Visuals Were Top-Notch

After premiering, reception towards Noah became split, evidenced by the contrasting percentages on Rotten Tomatoes (75% from critics, but only 41% from audiences). Those familiar with the biblical story were underwhelmed by the changes made in Noah, including the antagonist Tubal-Cain (Winstone) and the scene in which Crowe’s character nearly murders his newborn grandchildren. Jordan and Corridor Crew recognized the film as “a very unique hybrid,” bringing other fantastical elements onto Earth, but some viewers likely preferred it to remain closer to Noah’s Ark.

While Noah was divisive among moviegoers, the impressive visual effects may be a concordant bright spot. Along with the aforementioned scenes of animals and evolution, Corridor Crew examined the disastrous flood, and the image of people hanging onto a rocky structure, which Sam described as “very metal.” That point in the film, once the rain comes, features more powerful visuals of the Watchers ascending, massive bursts of water, and the entirety of the ark getting surrounded.

Our Take On The VFX In Noah

A Pivotal Part Of Making Aronofsky’s Film Look Like An Epic

The VFX plays an important role in presenting Noah as an epic drama of biblical proportions. The amount of water, compared to the scale of his boat, demonstrates how vast the Earth is, and how devastating the flood must have been. Seeing other examples of CGI throughout the film, and hearing Corridor Crew explain the effort involved in creating each animal and illustrate the story of creation, make the effects in Noah more memorable.

Source: Corridor Crew

Darren Aronofsky’s Noah is an epic biblical drama starring Russell Crowe as the titular character. The film tells the story of the legendary man chosen by God and the ark he builds to save his family and the world’s animals from a great flood. Jennifer Connelly, Emma Watson, Ray Winston, Anthony Hopkins, Logan Lerman, and Douglas Booth round out the rest of the main cast.

Director

Darren Aronofsky

Release Date

March 28, 2014

Studio(s)

Paramount Pictures

Distributor(s)

Paramount Pictures

Writers

Darren Aronofsky , Ari Handel

Runtime

138 Minutes

Budget

$125–160 million

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