Now You Can Watch One of the Best Parts of ‘Noah’ Without Wading Through the Entire Film

By  · Published on May 12th, 2014

Paramount Pictures

“Let me tell you a story.”

Beloved filmmaker Darren Aronofsky’s much-hyped Noah didn’t exactly deliver the goods when it finally hit the big screen earlier this season, but the feature did boast some eye-popping scenes and settings that were very nearly worth the price of admission. They built a whole ark, for goodness’ sake! And there’s at least one other thing Aronofsky nailed when it came to creating his own cinematic world – the actual creation of the world, at least as told through his own camera lens (and lots and lots of special effects).

Protozoa Pictures has now made the extraordinarily awesome “Creation” clip live (yes, it’s about the creation of the world, but no, you don’t need to be a Biblical devotee or a Christian to enjoy it), and the good people of /Film were smart enough to find it and share. Let’s sit back and soak in the glory of the very first story ever told (even though it happens to hit Noah in, well, its middle, after the flood has washed away nearly everything in existence).

What works about this clip is exactly what could have worked throughout the film – but didn’t – thanks to a neat combination of myth-making, traditional stories, actual storytelling, compelling material, stunning visuals, narrative power and Russell Crowe just easing the hell off his actorly gas pedal (take a break, dude). The visual sense of Aronofsky’s film was certainly its most powerful aspect, and his take on Creation is a prime example of that. It looks good and it tells a great story. How hard is that to make into an entire film? Wait, really hard? Damn.

Despite its plot promise, much of Noah was sort of loosely adapted from Biblical text (see: pretty much everything that happens with middle son Ham during the film’s hair-raising middle act), but Aronofsky’s take on the actual act of Creation is nothing short of awe-inspiring, while also being an extremely interesting translation of the story of Genesis. This is not a Creation tale the requires religious devotion from its audience, in fact, it’s interesting because it combines both religious bits and Big Bang science (you know, if you forget that stuff about God creating the Earth, which is how Noah tells it).

How about we let Aronofsky make a movie about this story next? (Because there would be no people in it? Eh, oh well.)

Noah does not yet have a home video release date, but is expected in July.