Noah IMAX ***

With this gritty, grand, poetic, and violent version of the great flood myth, Darren Aronofsky ("The Wrestler," "Black Swan") creates a new view of a religious fanatic and family cult leader. Noah receives visions as he wanders the ruined landscape of a depleted world laid waste by men. He is led to construct a huge floating box to save the animals of earth from the watery wrath of the Creator. With some fantastical interpretations of fallen angels and a foreshadowing of Abraham and the binding of Isaac, "Noah" is sometimes lyrical, sometimes a fevered dream in a tempest, and sometimes a bombastic shocker with an unfortunate resemblance to a Transformers sequel.

Uneven though it may be, through it all the gravel-voiced Russell Crowe is the rock, the one thing the family - wife, sons, and adopted daughter - can count on. Until they can't. When the drive and fanaticism turn inward, the logic, guilt,  and the punishment are inescapable. Jennifer Connelly as Noah's wife effectively conveys the love, dedication, fear, and desperation of her situation. Emma Watson finds a similar range in her portrayal of Ila, the adopted daughter who develops a love for son Shem. Anthony Hopkins is suitably wise and effective as the aged grandfather Methuselah. And Ray Winstone as the kingly heir of Cain is a worthy counterweight to Crowe's Noah.

This vision of Noah is unlikely to please a religious audience, whether Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. But it uses the elements of the flood story in a dramatically powerful way, with a particularly effective style and superb special effects that are always in service of the story. Its message, about both the stewardship of the earth and the redemptive power of love, resonates deeply despite its flaws.