Noah, the latest film and first truly big-budget effort from the incomparable Darren Aronofsky, has come along at a time when superheroes rule the blockbuster roost, heroes with superpowers and outlandish costumes and villains against which to battle. There’s something of that to be felt running through this Biblical epic but a peculiar and altogether refreshing grounding of the outlandishness to go along with it.

We all know the story to some extent: Noah (played here by Russell Crowe), an ordinary man who starts receiving visions and eventually tasked by “the Creator” (interestingly the word God is rarely mentioned) to build a giant ark in order to preserve the lives of all the world’s animals before a giant, apocalyptic flood comes to wipe everything else out. Along with such a gargantuan task, he also has to deal with the ruthless Tubal-cain (Ray Winstone), the descendant of the murderer Cain who believes man should rule over the Earth and trying to protect his wife Naameh (Jennifer Connelly) and three children, Shem (Douglas Booth), Ham (Logan Lerman) and Ila (Emma Watson).

It’s a film of admirable, hugely ambitious intent to take such a story that everyone knows and not only condense it to around 140 minutes on-screen time but to display it in such a bold, uncompromising fashion. Most people will come to the story with a weight of expectations, not for the quality of film (though with this director and such a cast, those expectations are there too) but of what we’re hoping to see for the ensuing minutes. Aranofsky seems just as resolute in his mission as Noah to thwart those expectations.

This is where the blockbuster angle mostly comes into play. Where one might expect the traditional story of Noah building the ark, the animals coming in two-by-two and so forth, you probably won’t be expecting to see giant talking rock monsters that help Noah defend his creation from Tubal-cain’s army of men. Yes, you read that correctly – talking rock monsters, who look like ancient calcified Transformers and whose backstory of being God’s fallen angels known as the Watchers treated just as seriously as its examination of man’s humanity. To its extreme credit the film goes about its fantastical ways with straight-faced conviction and be damned with anyone who might find it a bit silly.

And that’s what so effective about Aronofsky’s film; it’s at its heart a character, emotional and spiritually driven piece but one packaged in a visually inventive, surprisingly entertaining package. The cinematography by Matthew Labatique (the director’s previous collaborator on the likes of Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan) is earthy and really helps give it that sense of gritty believability despite its more outlandish CGI set-pieces. There are sequences that are genuinely breathtaking and in a way defy firm classification, such as when Noah tells the age-old story of the world’s creation that his father told him before he was killed by Tubal-cain, the descendant of the first ever murderer. Showcased with a beautiful mix of CGI stop-motion animation and live-action shadows, it’s a stunning and controversial sequence that speeds up the process and even suggests something of a union between Creationism and evolution. Aronofsky has always been an idiosyncratic director but that sequence in particular is personification of a filmmaker’s singular vision – the idea for doing the film actually stems back to a poem Aronofsky wrote when he was 13-years-old – that’s a rarity in blockbusters.

In Noah himself we have a brilliant protagonist, brought to life fantastically by Crowe, not just one to fit the hero mould for what modern day audiences have come to expect from a blockbuster but a strong-willed, determined man willing to literally wash away his life and humanity to complete his divine mission in which he so confidently believes. Through him Aronofsky explores faith and resolution, humanity and righteousness, and is thought-provoking no matter the religious affiliation of the viewer. It works just as well as a debate-stirrer as a piece of big-screen spectacle.

All of that isn’t to say that it’s a film without its share of flaws. The first hour or so is very exposition heavy and often finds it dragging in places, while it’s largely the impressive and committed performances from the likes of Connelly and Watson that make some of the supporting characters feel more fleshed out than they actually are in the screenplay. However, once things are truly set into motion and particularly when the fated flood strikes, the film becomes something of a marvel to behold, as much for the exhibition of production design and impressive CGI as for how it brings together its examination of Biblical themes.

The film has already stirred up huge controversy in certain parts of the world, including being banned in several Muslim countries, but that’s a whole other discussion to be had on its own. Putting the hullabaloo to one side and taking the film for what it is, a daring retelling of a well known story anchored by committed performances and a simultaneous sense of sheer spectacle and grounded emotion, it’s an admirable success.

Noah is released in UK cinemas on April 4th.