Golf war

Rating: 6/10 (14 February 2015)

I know Americans love their golf, but even as a golf-lover and player myself, it seems to me it is a difficult sport in which to impart cinematic drama and though beautiful to look at, Robert Redford's gentle film treads a little too gently on the grass to really satisfy.
Redford's recreation of the American South is gorgeous if sanitised to the point of caricature. The rich seem too rich and the poor too poor and for another thing there's a distinct lack of the expected good ol' boy prejudice in the air around Will Smith's black caddie. If, as others have suggested, this is down to his character's supernatural influence on everyone, why make him black at all? I wasn't completely convinced by the elusive nature of his Bagger Vance, even as I get the Hindu allusions in his character name and metaphysical impact on Matt Damon's Junuh character as helps him to "find himself" at the same time upholding the sportsmanship of the game of golf as it used to be.
I just thought the Zen and the golf made for awkward bed-fellows plus I also thought it wrong to accredit Damon's character with the key moment of sportsmanship in the film (when he calls a foul on himself that no-one else sees) when in real-life this was actually done by Bobby Jones himself, here portrayed merely as one of Junuh's playing partners.
As for the acting, I usually like Matt Damon but felt his "little-boy-lost" depiction seemed shallow, ditto Will Smith's beatific Vance while I also Charlize Theron's southern belle character a bit too rich and loud for my taste.
Director Redford's cinematography as indicated is all soft-focus and golden-hued, tributing a by-gone age and there are some nice unobtrusive special effects inserted into the golf match between the two golfing greats and Damon's Junuh, especially the floodlit finale, but for me a golf-ball rolling into a hole just doesn't make for great cinema, unlike say a knockout punch at golf or a home-run hit in baseball.
This is a lovingly made film by all concerned but I think in the end think I might have preferred a couple of hours myself on an actual golf course than cosy up to Redford's just- too-nice fantasy film.