The New World
2005. Written and directed by Terrence Malick. Starring Colin Farrell, Q'Orianka Kilcher, Christian Bale, and Christopher Plummer.
With the hope of discovering something anywhere close to Badlands, I keep returning to Terrence Malick's films. And I keep being disappointed. To be fair, Malick has made a grand total of three movies since his 1973 masterpiece Badlands, so it isn't that hard keeping track of his career. Each of these three movies, however, is exceptionally long and feels even longer. There's some really good stuff in The Thin Red Line, though perhaps not enough of value to make it worth your time. That is far higher praise than I will give The New World. I couldn't get involved at all and never cared about the characters. The narration is dry and completely unnecessary; it serves only to slow the already slow-moving film down. The acting is unimpressive. I've seen some good work from Farrell and Bale, but what they offer here is far less exciting. The cinematography, always a strength in Malick films, is once again impressive; but certainly not good enough to make me glad I wasted my time with this.
My grade: C-
With the hope of discovering something anywhere close to Badlands, I keep returning to Terrence Malick's films. And I keep being disappointed. To be fair, Malick has made a grand total of three movies since his 1973 masterpiece Badlands, so it isn't that hard keeping track of his career. Each of these three movies, however, is exceptionally long and feels even longer. There's some really good stuff in The Thin Red Line, though perhaps not enough of value to make it worth your time. That is far higher praise than I will give The New World. I couldn't get involved at all and never cared about the characters. The narration is dry and completely unnecessary; it serves only to slow the already slow-moving film down. The acting is unimpressive. I've seen some good work from Farrell and Bale, but what they offer here is far less exciting. The cinematography, always a strength in Malick films, is once again impressive; but certainly not good enough to make me glad I wasted my time with this.
My grade: C-
posted by Keith Allison at 11:11 PM
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