A masterful achievement from a technical and artistic standpoint

Rating: 4/10 (17 May 2011)

Writer-director Terrence Malick's depiction of 17th century British expedition to found new colony in Jamestown, Virginia is a masterful achievement from a technical and artistic standpoint...yet, it is so low-keyed that it rarely comes to life. This is the work of a great cinematic auteur, but one exits "The New World" (particularly in its mammoth, 172-minute "extended version") feeling unmoved. As depicted, the expedition isn't heightened in excitement with bold characterizations or rousing action; the filmmaker keeps the scenario in check, preferring to let the narrative unfold carefully (some may argue too cautiously). This is an intellectual's version of a history lesson, and some viewers may be put off by the slow pace. Colin Ferrell (heavily bearded--and with alert but haunted eyes) portrays Captain John Smith, who becomes a doomed prisoner of the Natives before having his life spared by the chief's doe-eyed daughter, Pocahontas. Their love affair verges dangerously close to Blue Lagoon territory (lots of chaste, bare shoulder-rubbing and half-kisses in montage), though Malick shows a surprising vulnerability in these instances (he displays the dawning of new and tremulous emotions with a kind of naked purity). The mutiny which ensues between the British and the "savages" is brutal and hard-hitting; however, the human drama at the heart of the picture seems stretched out too long. Malick doesn't tiptoe through the tangled relationships, but his focus does tend to stray. Christian Bale's role as smitten new settler John Rolfe is flattened as a result; he never takes on any dimension. Rolfe is an unenviable romantic substitute for an absentee Smith, and when he and Pocahontas go through the whole courting thing all over again, it just feels like a repeat. As an artistic and visceral achievement, "The New World" is vivid, brooding and intense. As an entertainment, per se, it lacks an inner fire that is necessary to envelop a wide audience. Malick isn't indifferent to the people on-screen, but one gets the impression he's far more interested in the erotic, swirling waters, the crackling lightning in the cloudy skies, and the forms and figures of the muscular Native Americans as seen in silhouette or by firelight. Do the central characters become important and real to us? Not very. ** from ****