Time and tide waits for no man . . .

ing images.

While the descendants of Cain spread greed and wickedness, the descendants of Seth - Cain’s surviving brother - work the land, taking only what they need.

The last of this righteous b l o o d l i n e, Noa h ( Ru s s e l l Crowe), lives with his wife Naameh (Jennifer Connelly) and sons Shem (Douglas Booth), Ham (Logan Lerman) and Japheth (Leo McHugh Carroll).

One night, Noah experiences a vision of a devastating flood.

“All l i fe blotted out because of what man has done,” laments the father.

A visit to the mountainous lair of Noah’s grandfather Methuselah (Anthony Hopkins) confirms the dire prediction and Noah accepts his task to build an ark capable of temporarily housing one pair of “all that creeps, all that crawls, all that slithers”.

He is aided by the three boys, adopted daughter Ila (Emma Watson) and an army of rock-encrusted fallen angels.

Tu b a l - c a i n ( R ay Wi n - stone), a bad apple from the other branch of the family tree, stumbles upon the ark and threatens to storm the vessel to escape the Creator’s wrath.

“There is no escape for you and your kind,” proclaims Noah, instigating a fight to the death between the two men.

Noah is fascinating yet flawed.

Quieter, thoughtful sections of the film, when the titular character wrestles with his destiny, beg provocative questions about devotion to a higher power including an extraordinary scene of attempted infanticide.

Crowe delivers a compelling central performance as a humble man, who accepts his own frailties.

“We will work, complete the task - and then we will die, like everyone else,” he forlornly instructs his family.

Regrettably, Aronofsky also has to recoup a hefty budget so he punctuates his characters’ emotional rollercoaster with bombastic action sequences that are as soulless as they are spectacular.

When the pivotal deluge finally comes, it’s a tour-deforce of visual effects and swooping camerawork that is over in a matter of minutes.

Time and tide wait for no man, not even Russell Crowe.